Page 8 The Skanner BLACK HISTORY EDITION February 21, 2018
Black History
The Hidden Superpower of ‘Black Panther’: Scientist Role Models
King of a technologically advanced country, Black Panther is a scientific genius.
Clifford Johnson
The Conversation
I’m not the first to say
that the upcoming Mar-
vel movie “Black Pan-
ther” will be an import-
ant landmark. Finally a
feature film starring a
black superhero char-
acter will be part of the
Marvel Cinematic Uni-
verse – a successful run
of intertwined movies
that began with “Iron
Man” in 2008. While
there have been other
superhero movies with
a Black lead character
— “Hancock” (2008),
“Blade” (1998), “Spawn”
(1997) or even “The Mete-
or Man” (1993) – this film
is significant because of
the recent remarkable
rise of the superhero
filmfrom the nerdish
fringe to part of main-
stream culture.
Huge audiences will
see a Black lead charac-
ter — not a sidekick or
part of a team – in a su-
perhero movie by a ma-
jor studio, with a Black
director (Ryan Coogler),
Black writers and a ma-
jority Black cast. This is
a significant step toward
diversifying our culture
by improving the lacklus-
ter representation of mi-
norities in our major me-
dia. It’s also a filmmaking
landmark because Black
creators have been given
access to the resources
and platforms needed to
bring different storytell-
ing perspectives into our
mainstream culture.
Last year’s “Wonder
Woman” forged a similar
path. In that case, a ma-
jor studio finally decided
to commit resources to
a superhero film head-
lined by a female char-
acter and directed by a
woman, Patty Jenkins.
Female directors are a
minority in the movie in-
dustry. Jenkins brought
a new perspective to this
kind of action movie, and
there was a huge positive
response from audiences
in theaters worldwide.
Above and beyond all
this, “Black Panther”
also has the potential to
break additional ground
in a way most people may
not realize: In the comics,
the character is actually
a scientist. Moreover, in
‘Black Panther’
the inevitable (and some-
what ridiculous) ranking
of scientific prowess that
happens in the comic
book world, he’s been
portrayed as at least the
equal of the two most
famous “top scientists”
in the Marvel universe:
Tony Stark (Iron Man)
and Reed Richards (Mr.
Fantastic). A Black head-
lining superhero charac-
ter written and directed
by Black artists is rare
enough from a major
studio, but having him
be a successful scientist
as well is another level of
rarity.
Scientists on screen
I’m a scientist who
cares about increased
engagement with science
“
ther character and his
scientific back story is a
fascinating example of
turning a problematic
past into a positive op-
portunity.
Created in 1966 by Stan
Lee and Jack Kirby, he’s
the first Black superhero
character in mainstream
The history and evolution of
the Black Panther character
and his scientific back story
is a fascinating example of
turning a problematic past
into a positive opportunity
by the general public.
I’ve worked as a science
adviser on many film and
TV projects (though not
“Black Panther”). When
the opportunity arises,
I’ve helped broaden the
diversity of scientist
charactersportrayed on-
screen.
Jason Wilkes is a Black
scientist on ‘Agent Car-
ter,’ whose character
emerged from the au-
thor’s talks with the
show’s writers. ABC Tele-
vision, CC BY-ND
Panels from ‘The Dia-
logues,’ including a Black
female scientist. ‘The
Dialogues,’ by Clifford
V. Johnson (MIT Press
2017), CC BY-ND
I’ve
also
recently
published a nonfiction
graphic book for general
audiences called “The Di-
alogues: Conversations
about the Nature of the
Universe.” Its characters
include male and female
Black scientists, discuss-
ing aspects of my own
field of theoretical phys-
ics – where black scien-
tists are unfortunately
very rare. So the oppor-
tunity that the “Black
Panther” movie presents
to inform and inspire
vast audiences is of great
interest to me.
The history and evo-
lution of the Black Pan-
comics, originally ap-
pearing as a guest in a
“Fantastic Four” Marvel
comic. As a Black charac-
ter created and initially
written by non-Black au-
thors, guest-starring in
the pages of a book head-
lined by White char-
acters, he had many of
the classic attributes of
what is now sometimes
controversially known
as the “magical negro”
in American cultural
criticism: He ranked ex-
tremely highly in every
sphere that mattered, to
the point of being almost
too unreal even for the
comics of the time.
Black Panther is T’Chal-
la, king of the fictional
African country Wakan-
da, which is fathomlessly
wealthy and remarkably
advanced,
scientifical-
ly and technologically.
Even Marvel’s legendary
master scientist - Reed
Richards of the superhe-
ro team Fantastic Four
- is befuddled by and
full of admiration for
Wakanda’s scientific ca-
pabilities. T’Challa him-
self is portrayed as an
extraordinary “genius”
in physics and other sci-
entific fields, a peerless
tactician, a remarkable
athlete and a master of
numerous forms of mar-
tial arts. And he is noble
to a fault. Of course, he
grows to become a pow-
erful ally of the Fantastic
Four and other Marvel
superheroes over many
adventures.
While likening Black
Panther to a ‘refugee
from a Tarzan movie,’ the
Fantastic Four marveled
at his technological inno-
vations in ‘Introducing
the Sensational Black
Panther.’ Fantastic Four
#52 (July 1966). [Marvel
Comics]
The key point here
is that the superlative
scientific ability of our
hero, and that of his
country, has its origins
in the well-meaning, but
problematic, practice of
inventing near- or be-
yond-perfect Black char-
acters to support sto-
ries starring primarily
White protagonists. But
this is a lemons-to-lem-
onade story.
Black Panther (T’Chal-
la) eventually gets to
star in his own series of
comics. He is turned into
a nuanced and complex
character, moving well
away from the tropes of
his beginnings. Writer
Don McGregor’s work
started this development
as early as 1973, but Black
Panther’s journey to the
multilayered character
we’ll see on screen was
greatly advanced by the
efforts of several writ-
ers with diverse per-
spectives. Perhaps most
notably, in the context
of the film, these include
Christopher Priest (late
1990s) and Ta-Nehisi
Coates (starting in 2016),
along with Roxane Gay
and Yona Harvey, writ-
ing in “World of Wakan-
da” (2016). Coates and
Gay, already best-selling
literary writers before
coming to the character,
helped bring him to wid-
er attention beyond nor-
mal comic book fandom,
partly paving the way for
See PANTHER on page 9