Captain America: Civil War is finally within reach and if the international box office earnings and early reviews are anything to go by, this movie is shaping up to be another huge success for Marvel. The Winter Soldier sequel features almost every Avenger so far, but it also has the massive job of introducing two major players for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Spider-Man and Black Panther. While most people are familiar with Spider-Man, less know about Blank Panther and what his deal is. Siding with Team Iron Man, the African King is played by Chadwick Boseman, who will be playing the character in his own solo movie in 2018.
Appearing as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live – a show where major Marvel news is usually dropped, such as the first Doctor Strange trailer – Chadwick Boseman was able to talk about how he approached the character of the Black Panther, specifically the voice and accent.
I did an independent film called Message from the King, where I play a South African who is coming to L.A. Sort of a fish-out-of-water story. So I used that as sort of my ‘small comedy club’ performance, to find my dialect coach, to sort of find my base for an authentic African dialect… and just built off of that, with that dialect.
Using one performance to bolster another seems like a good idea. It’s just as Chadwick Boseman said: comedians do it all the time. It’s nice to know that Boseman is trying to make the Black Panther, a guy who got his powers from eating a heart-shaped herb, feel like he’s authentic and belongs in the real world. It seems to be an approach that’s working because the early buzz on Civil War claims that Boseman is terrific in the role and he brings an appropriate amount of rage and royalty.
Chadwick Boseman has proven in his acting career that he’s a chameleon in human form. He’s played Jackie Robinson in 42 and James Brown in Get On Up, arguably his biggest films before he was cast as Black Panther. In those films, he basically transformed himself into two iconic figures in baseball and music respectively, so it’s fair to wonder how the actor would portray T’Challa, King of Wakanda, and one of the first major African superheroes.
If you’d like to see the full clip of Chadwick Boseman discussing Black Panther on Jimmy Kimmel Live, then check out the video below.
Chadwick Boseman makes his first of many appearances as Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War, hitting theaters very shortly on May 6, 2016.
