There was a time, not so long ago, when comics were a niche subculture. Recently this culture has completely dominated the mainstream, generating a host of mass money-making movies and TV series.
Across the likes of the 1980s, people were lucky to get one or two comic-book movies every year...and the quality of them would certainly be debatable. These days they are not only on in movie theatres but in video games, theme park rides, and we can even watch them from the comfort of our own homes. It is easy to access Marvel's universe through the likes of Netflix, Hulu and Disney Plus. This alone shows the enormous popularity of this franchise and is not even showing the merchandise that is available through clothing and even homeware.
The 1980s were quite a valuable time for the genres of comic books. In the 1980s, Alan Moore’s influential ‘Watchmen’ series shocked comic books into yet another era, a period sometimes known as the “dark age”. As postmodernism took hold, superheroes started dwelling endlessly on their own motivations and circumstances, as they often found themselves morally compromised, and wondering where they stood in the world. This was something that had started happening in real life too. There were more practical changes, as well, that helped the superhero’s later shift from being fundamentally childish to the pop-cultural symbol of the age.
While these films trace their origins back to the early 1940s, when the first Batman and Superman series were made, there are certainly major moments in their growing timeline. For instance, it is fair to say that no comic book movie had quite seized upon the potential of special effects quite like Superman (1978) did. After that, many more of these films would be produced, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) which amazingly, until the 1999 release of The Blair Witch Project, held the record as the world’s most profitable independent production.
In fact, Superman has been universally agreed on being the origin of the genre. He was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who were two sons of Jewish immigrants who had met at high school in Ohio in 1930.
Although many comic book films have set extraordinary standards of financial success, most notably Tim Burton's Batman (1989), it was Sam Raimi's first Spider-Man movie that reshaped what the genre was economically capable of. The world’s enthusiasm for Spider-Man was so great, the movie smashed records to gross more than $800 million worldwide
It is said that “The Golden Age” describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and had rapidly increased in popularity. However, titles from this “golden age” of comic books were regarded as being uncomplicated stories of good guys winning over evil. The golden age characters, some have said, did not have much of a personality. They were very rigid, even in the way they were drawn.
The following “silver age” defined by Marvel and Stan Lee’s Spider-Man, gave its protagonists a little more weight and background. Marvel made comics appeal to adolescents and young adults; it made the characters more interesting.
It was increasingly obvious that comic books were no longer just a niche subculture anymore but in fact an incredible money-making machine. Soon The Marvel Cinematic Universe would be born and kicked off with 2008’s Iron Man.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a media franchise created by Marvel Studios, set primarily in a shared universe defined within Marvel's multiverse system. Some instalments are also set in adjacent or branching realities. So far, the 23 released movies of the MCU have grossed $22,587,809,615 worldwide. It is the first major film franchise to cross all the $9 to $22 billion marks. It has also become the first franchise to cross the $3 to $8 billion marks domestically in North America and is the highest-grossing franchise of all time.
With all of Marvel's success, many have asked over the years why Marvel does not have more minority representation in their films. People have been pushing for more representation at all levels from MCU films in general. More women. More African-Americans. More Muslims. More diverse sexual identities. The idea is that all these groups would like to have heroes standing for them in a clearer way that they can identify closely with.
MCU’s aim is to take popular stories and characters and to display them on the big screen so they started with their legends, with those that have been around from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Captain America and Thor, for example, which were both written around those time periods. It is especially important to remember that these were times when segregation was in full swing and woman were still trying to convince that they could have equal roles to men at work. How many LGBTQ heroes were being written about back in the early 90s when it was still common to use homophobic slurs as jokes between guys? Exactly.
However, Marvel Studios started including more representations in their films, slowly but surely leading to the cultural phenomenon, historic box-office success that has brought in rave reviews and sparked conversation all over social media and traditional media alike. Black Panther.
The Black Panther comic book superhero has long been a Marvel fan favourite, especially among comic enthusiasm of colour. The story took over the internet and inspired millions. It was even nominated for seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and won three.
In conjunction with an all-star collection of a majority-black talent both in front of and behind the camera, Black Panther, under the direction of Ryan Coogler, is about more than the latest superhero’s journey; it is also about black culture’s journey, and it points toward a future where it could be the culture. It recognizes and celebrates everything from traditional African society to African-American political debates. From the power and beauty of black women to the preservation of identity, all within the beautiful confines of the fictional African nation of Wakanda.
Black Panther is in many forms a love letter to black culture. Africa has traditionally been an unsophisticated part of American media, often being portrayed as backward, savage, and chaotic in everything from news coverage to films. It is the likes of these portrayals that has left little room for other interpretations, which is why Black Panther’s vision of Wakanda as a bustling metropolis of futuristic skyscrapers, racing trains, and soaring spaceships feels, in many ways, new and refreshing.
Marvel movies often take place in grand, imaginative locales, like Thor’s Asgard or Guardians of the Galaxy’s far-flung planets. Still, nothing has been quite as bold and poignant as Wakanda. Home to a thriving black population that stands for a collective ingenuity and beauty. As a testament to black empowerment, Black Panther is an important artefact, but it is also, quite simply, a monumental moment for black moviegoers who have long searched for and been starved of this sort of vision.
This was a groundbreaking type of film and it expanded the scope through the use of new representations of black people. However, it was only one of many important moments for black pop culture landscape which is becoming ever more popular today and which can be seen through the intertextual references such Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN to Atlanta and Queen Sugar. This has given the renewed interest in telling stories that broaden and sharpen the range of black narratives.
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