Black Panther Trailer Reactions: 7 Ups & 3 Downs

Ups

7. Smaller Scale Spectacle

One of the best lessons of Captain America: Civil War (and indeed the whole Captain America series) came with the success of its more personal, restrained storylines - and the more intimate relationship between villain and heroes. Rather than giving us a CGI monster or a typical, soulless super-villain with a convoluted plan that is difficult to empathise with, we got the heart-breaking story of Zemo, which offered a far more satisfying dynamic.

That's very much a concern for Thanos' appearance in Infinity War, which will probably struggle to recapture the same sort of narrative claustrophobia (though there are a different set of expectations for that film, which should allow it some more space).

In Black Panther, in contrast to Infinity War, we have something that feels more self-containted and less like a step on the way to a bigger MCU event, thanks to the more intimate story focus. The villains are tied to T'Challa's story, and his duty to Wakanda, and it is a great touch to see them as human characters with intimate bonds to him already. They aren't pantomime villains or over-blown cartoons, and this smaller-scale, self-contained story will have the space to thrive because of that.