Black Panther’s Female Characters Will Avoid The Typical Rivalry Trope

Black Panther will be the first MCU film that hits cinemas in 2018. It is also the film that will open the studio's 10th anniversary, showing how much Marvel has grown since the debut of Iron Man in 2008. This will be the first film in the MCU to have a predominantly black cast and fans cannot wait to see what happens in T'Challa's first adventure this coming February.

Aside from the cast, which is 98% black, the film will also be avoiding a few cliches that fans are used to. During an interview with Teen Vogue, Lupita Nyong'o and Letitia Wright discussed how the film will be breaking the female rivalry trope that usually accompanies most warrior characters. Interestingly enough, they emphasized how director Ryan Coogler made sure that the trope would not be part of the film. It's a bit refreshing, to be honest.

"Ryan made a point of avoiding the expected female-rival narrative. In this genre, where spandex is involved, oftentimes the women are pitted against each other. In our story, there are so many different women holding their own space. Women may be in competition with each other, sure, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's an absence of love or respect."

It's nice seeing the catty warrior trope dropped in this movie. Thor: Ragnarok kind of did this with Valkyrie and The Grandmaster's head guard but it wasn't emphasized too much. Most films indulge in this for some reason, though admittedly there are much worse cliches.

Nyong'o also confirmed that her character Nakia will be different from the comic book version. She hasn't had a great relationship with T'Challa, even becoming his enemy at one point. That won't be the case with this film.

"My character, Nakia, was a departure from the character you see in the comic books. She's this independent woman, super patriotic but also very questioning of her society, and I liked that."

Wright also spoke about Shuri, the character she will be playing. Shuri has a more positive relationship with T'Challa, at one point becoming Wakanda's Queen and taking up the Black Panther mantle.

"She's strong, and she can kick butt. She's intelligent, she loves Wakanda, and she loves creating technology to protect her people. But you see when she's scared, when she's frightened, when she's afraid for her family."

Black Panther will hit theaters on February 16, 2018.

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