9 Important Marvel Movie Moments To Remember Before Seeing 'Black Panther'
T'Challa and the nation of Wakanda are finally getting their own movie. Black Panther will be the superhero's major introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it isn't the first time that we have seen the Wakandan warrior. Marvel movies have been laying the groundwork for Black Panther's standalone movie for years now. Before you go witness Wakanda in all of its glory, these are the 9 Marvel movie moments to revisit before seeing Black Panther. It will definitely help you fully appreciate the new movie if you refresh your memory on how Black Panther connects to the rest of the Marvel universe before you go see it.
1. Tony Stark introduces Vibranium (Captain America: The First Avenger)
The insanely powerful substance Vibranium plays an all-important role in Black Panther. Vibranium is only found in Wakanda, and has turned the secretive African nation into the most technologically advanced country in the world... although the world doesn't know that, since Wakanda poses as a struggling Third-World country in order to keep their Vibranium reserves a secret. Along with transforming Wakanda, Vibranium is also the source of Black Panther's powers in a number of ways, which are explained in the new movie.
Vibranium has popped up in Marvel movies prior to Black Panther a bunch of times. Its most iconic appearance is in the form of Captain America's shield, which is gifted to the hero by Tony Stark towards the end of Captain America: The First Avenger. Stark doesn't expain everything about Vibranium, only mentioning that it is a rare and nearly indestructible metal.
2. Bruce Banner first mentions Wakanda (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
Vibranium's most major appearance prior to Black Panther is in Avengers: Age of Ultron, when Ultron sets his sights on acquiring the substance. While tracking Ultron down, Bruce Banner reads about the country where Vibranium comes from, although he has trouble pronouncing the name Wakanda.
3. We meet Ulysses Klaue (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
Ulysses Klaue, a rare non-CGI character from Andy Serkis, will play a major antagonistic role in Black Panther. We first met Klaue in Age of Ultron, as the infamous smuggler that Ultron purchases Vibranium from. Klaue explains that he is the only non-Wakandan to make it out of the country alive, although he did get a nasty brand on his neck from the Wakandans. This makes him one of the only people in the world who knows the truth about all the Vibranium hidden in Wakanda.
It is also important to note that Ultron rips off Klaue's left arm during their Vibranium deal.
4. Ultron makes use of stolen Vibranium (Avengers: Age of Ultron)
Aside from Captain America's shield, the only time we see Vibranium in action ahead of Black Panther is in Age of Ultron. Ultron uses Ulysses Klaue's stolen Vibranium to construct an android body for himself, but before he can enter it, the body is stolen by the Avengers and fuses with the Mind Stone, which creates Vision. Ultron also uses Vibranium to construct an engine that lifts Sokovia into the air in his attempt to create a meteorite that will destroy Earth.
5. We meet T'Challa and T'Chaka (Captain America: Civil War)
The other important Marvel movie to revisit before Black Panther is Captain America: Civil War, the movie that actually first introduces T'Challa. Civil Wars starts with Scarlet Witch inadvertently killing several Wakandan humanitarian workers while stopping the theft of biological weapons from a lab in Africa. As a result, the United Nations convenes to pass an accord that would impose governmental control over the Avengers. It is at this United Nations meeting that we first meet King T'Chaka and his son T'Challa, who attend to represent Wakanda.
6. T'Chaka is killed (Captain America: Civil War)
At the United Nations meeting, a bomb goes off right after T'Chaka steps up to the podium to speak, killing him before T'Challa can save him. By line of succession, this makes T'Challa the new king of Wakanda. Though T'Chaka dies in Civil War, he will appear again in Black Panther as a spirit.
7. T'Challa seeks vengeance as the Black Panther (Captain America: Civil War)
Security footage at the U.N. reveals that Bucky Barnes, A.K.A. the Winter Soldier, is responsible for the bomb that killed T'Chaka. We finally see T'Challa transform into the Black Panther as he chases Barnes down in a quest for vengeance, teaming up with Iron Man, Spider-Man, Black Widow, War Machine, and Vision in a battle against Captain America's team, whom he sees as trying to protect his father's murderer. When he finds out that Barnes was being controlled by Helmut Zemo — a survivor from the Battle of Sokovia seeking revenge for the inadvertent death of his family in the climactic Age of Ultron battle — T'Challa captures Zemo before he can kill himself and turns him into the authorities.
8. CIA agent Everett Ross is introduces (Captain America: Civil War)
Another major player in Black Panther that we have met before is CIA agent Everett K. Ross, played by Martin Freeman. Ross works closely with Tony Stark in Civil War, representing the U.S. government's role in monitoring the Avengers, and placed in charge of Helmut Zemo's incarceration at the end of the film. Ross will return in Black Panther to aid T'Challa's fight against his new adversary, Killmonger.
9. Bucky Barnes arrives in Wakanda (Captain America: Civil War)
We have actually already gotten a glimpse of Wakanda in the Marvel movies before Black Panther. The post-credits scene in Civil War shows Bucky Barnes returning to his cryogenic sleep until he can once and for all be rid of Hydra's mind control, and as the camera zooms out we see that he is being cared for in Wakanda.