Marvel Cinematic Universe: Every 2018 Project Ranked Worst To Best

It's incredible how big a phenomenon Black Panther turned out to be, the character finally getting his chance to shine in his own solo franchise two years after his big introduction in Captain America: Civil War. It exploded at the box office, but - more importantly - it tapped into something cultural in a way that the whole world embraced.

Is it a flawed movie? Yes. Its narrative isn't exactly anything we haven't seen before, for instance, and some of the special effects work - most notably in the final fight between T'Challa and Killmonger - is rough. Despite that, though, Black Panther works for being something different from the norm, particularly in terms of the MCU itself, with a cast that's game to the point of being infectious. Nearly every character is a scene-stealer, from Okoye to Shuri, Everett Ross to M'Baku, or Klaue to Killmonger, and the movie is all the better for it.

With twenty films now under the MCU's belt, it's up to you to decide where you personally rank the film in comparison to its brethren, but there's no denying that - for 2018 - Black Panther's massive success and loads of appeal make it one of the year's most important projects for the franchise at large, even acting as a gateway for new fans to enter the MCU, and we're lucky that the character and his corner of the world are here to stay.