Long before Marvel made history with its billion-dollar Avengers film or Academy Award-nominated Black Panther, the pieces of the comic universe were scattered among Hollywood’s numerous studios. The MCU played with only the spades in its deck by bringing out Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America.
But true universe-building only began when Disney acquired Marvel Studios in 2009 and 20th Century Studios in 2019, essentially bringing the MCU, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four properties under one banner.
Black Panther Almost Made a Debut Before the MCU
In the 1990s, Demolition Man star Wesley Snipes was determined to make his superhero debut as Black Panther, the king and protector of the afro-futuristic nation of Wakanda. However, that plan fell through, leading to his iconic turn as the half-human Vampire hunter, Blade. Soon after, Fox picked up on the Fantastic Four project, delivering two live-action films with a less-than-optimistic reception.
However, bureaucratic red tape involving the rights to the comic character prevented 20th Century Studios from green-lighting Fantastic Four 3 (as though the box office earnings and the flop ratings weren’t enough of a discouragement already). Meanwhile, in the late 2000s, Marvel Studios began aggressively chasing after the IP as well to secure the rights from Universal and New Line Cinema.
Although Black Panther eventually made it back to his parent organization, Namor stayed behind at Universal, leading to some mixed feelings among fans who wanted a solo exploration of the character after the anti-hero’s impressive debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
The Legacy of Black Panther and Chadwick Boseman
So when the solo Black Panther film was announced after the positive reception of Civil War, there was an understandable anticipation among the masses in the run-up to the character’s arrival. It was already accepted that the movie would be a sensation, but upon release, it exceeded the mass expectations by a mile and then some.
Black Panther was an immediate cultural phenomenon, fetching $1.38 billion at the box office and becoming the highest-grossing solo superhero film of all time, the highest-grossing film directed by a Black filmmaker, the first superhero movie to earn a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, and winning 3 out of 7 Academy Award nominations.
However, all of that could have easily been made redundant, and 20th Century Fox followed up on their devious coup on the Wakandan superhero.
Fantastic Four and Black Panther are available to stream on Disney+