Black Panther is officially the first comic book movie to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, landing a slot in the main race along with six other categories.
It’s been apparent from the first reviews for Ryan Coogler’s film that Black Panther would earn prestige among groups that would rarely give the superhero genre a second glance, meaning it comes as little surprise to see that T’Challa’s solo debut has secured a nod in the 91st Academy Awards’ biggest category, competing for the top prize alongside BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Green Book, Roma, A Star Is Born and Vice.
Meanwhile, the film has also earned nominations for Best Costume Design, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Original Score and Original Song, and it isn’t the only Marvel-related movie to get some recognition, either. For one thing, Avengers: Infinity War predictably received a nod for Best Visual Effects, while Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is up for Best Animated Feature.
Nonetheless, the clear winner in the genre is Black Panther, and after the all-time ratings low that last year’s Academy Awards suffered, THR speculates that the film’s Best Picture nod will help bring some excitement to this year’s ceremony.
Though the MCU flick is the first superhero movie to garner a nomination in the top category, many would argue that it’s not the first to deserve it. Even Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige said earlier this month that 2008’s The Dark Knight warranted further recognition, and he’s evidently not the only one to feel this way, since the backlash to the film’s Best Picture snub was seemingly great enough to convince the Academy to expand their nominee number from five to ten.
Regardless, we’ll see if Black Panther can take home any prizes when The Oscars air on ABC on February 21st.