A Month Before Its Release, 'Black Panther' Looks Like Marvel's Next Winner

The highly anticipated Marvel movie Black Panther is hitting theaters next month. It's the first installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that features a black superhero, along with a black director, black writers, and a nearly all black cast.

Blade, another Marvel property based on a black vampire hunter, was adapted for the big screen 20 years ago -- but that was by another studio. With Black Panther, Marvel Studios is now adding T'Challa to its lineup of live-action superheroes.

Frederick Joseph started the Black Panther Challenge as a fundraiser to send kids to see the movie in Harlem. He says representation like this opens up so many possibilities. 

"This was me trying to provide the opportunity for young people to see themselves in a story," he says.

Since the challenge began ten days ago, big names like JJ Abrams, Snoop Dogg and ESPN’s Jemele Hill have donated. Joseph has raised over $40,000 and inspired 70 similar campaigns in the U.S.

Clarkisha Kent, a writer at The Root and The Establishment, says that as a comic book icon, Black Panther was a hero -- a black hero -- that people had never seen before.

"He does represent different things across the diaspora for black people," she says. "He’s super smart -- he has Ph.Ds, he’s king of his country, a chieftain of his clan, spiritual adviser to the entire country… And he can also go toe to toe with the best of them."

Kent says there's a lot to the story that's revolutionary. The thriving African nation of Wakanda is a showcase of black and African excellence, and a rebuttal to toxic stereotypes and rhetoric about the continent. With the woman warriors of the Dora Milaje, Black Panther also subverts decades of colonialist, white male-centric comic book canon.

The ticket site Fandango reports that Black Panther had the biggest first-day ticket pre-sales of any Marvel movie ever. Black Panther opens on February 16.