One thing among many that has allowed Marvel Studios to succeed over the years is its uncanny ability to craft a shared universe populated by some of the most iconic superheroes around – in addition to others that have since become household names. This, of course, is what builds anticipation for team-up flicks like Avengers: Infinity War.
But before we get there, we have one more important stop on the road in the form of a solo movie, that being Black Panther. And even though T’Challa may seem like a relatively new commodity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he’s been hinted at for years.
Perfectly illustrating this point is a new international trailer (seen at the top) that features lead actor Chadwick Boseman taking us on a guided tour of Easter eggs that have been dropped since 2010’s Iron Man 2. In that particular film, Wakanda was merely highlighted on a map shown in a scene shared by Nick Fury and Tony Stark, but we all got the message even then.
Beyond that, we briefly revisit Captain America: The First Avenger, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War to further drive home the point. Still, I’m glad they showed how deep this goes because I’d argue that Iron Man 2 was where they really started to flesh out the MCU as the entity we now know it to be.
Also of note is this other promo circulating overseas that reunites Team Iron Man from Civil War in a way, as Robert Downey Jr. sits down with Boseman to hype the latter’s solo outing. Not only can one benefit from the rub given by Downey, but their respective characters complement each other quite well. Really, both are based in so much technology, and they also have this “coolness” factor that, in all honesty, few other superheroes are able to share.
Truth be told, it’s very smart that both these video packages circulate ahead of Black Panther‘s February 16th theatrical release as in addition to spreading the word regarding that, it has to be creating some additional hype for Infinity War. And if T’Challa is indeed a strong presence in that movie like we’ve been hearing, well, then it doesn’t hurt to have all the primers and recaps we can get.