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Chadwick Boseman On Black Panther In ‘Captain America: Civil War’: ‘You Meet Me As The Prince Of Wakanda’

By Stephen Jordan
Published on: 20:00 PST, Mar 9, 2016

Chadwick Boseman has revealed some fascinating new information on the character of T’Challa/Black Panther in Marvel’s upcoming Captain America: Civil War, via Marvel.com. Boseman, who has played James Brown and Jackie Robinson and has been cast as the lead in the Thurgood Marshall biopic, has done a lot of research and preparation to play the Black Panther. The actor discussed how he carefully chose his accent for the character, his place in the film, and how it feels to be portraying this character in a film before his own solo debut.

“You meet me as the Prince of Wakanda,” Chadwick Boseman says of his character’s debut in Civil War, stressing that the audience should not expect to see an origin story in this film. “You meet me as a politician/monarch, not as a superhero. [But,] I am already a Black Panther.”

The Get On Up actor had to do his fair share of comic book research for the character prior to arriving on the Civil War set.

“I was not totally familiar [with him],” Chadwick Boseman admits. “I think what you try to do is just get your hands on every single comic book you can find that has the character in it, or him being mentioned or anything. I’ve just tried to read them all–not like it’s really work. It is work — don’t get me wrong — it is work, but it’s just sort of reading them like a kid, you know? Because when you just read it like it’s work, you’re just trying to get through it. It’s putting yourself in that mind frame to go through the mythology in a fun way.”

Black Panther’s home of Wakanda will not actually appear on screen, to the dismay of many fans who were hoping to see a glimpse of the highly technologically advanced country. We’re going to have to wait for Black Panther’s solo outing in 2018 to see Wakanda in all of its glory. However, the presence of Wakanda is said to be felt throughout the film, and what happens in Civil War will tie-in to the Black Panther solo film. T’Challa’s decision to leave the country of Wakanda to be in America — the reason for which is not yet known, though some have speculated that he is specifically heading after Sebastian Stan’s character Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier – will more than likely be referenced in his solo film.

“Also, I’ve gone to South Africa, gone to some places, to see some things that I think relate to the character,” Boseman said, “and let those things fuel your workouts, fuel your sessions when you work on the part.” Captain America: Civil War co-director Joe Russo praised the work Chadwick Boseman did on his accent, saying “he found a regional accent based on where Wakanda would be.”

Chadwick Boseman appearing on set for the first time in the Black Panther costume was a very emotional day for many on the set, according to Joe Russo. He also doubled down on his praise of Boseman’s portrayal, detailing how the character moves like no other character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “He’s not the strongest, [and] he’s not necessarily the fastest, but he’s strong and he’s fast,” Boseman states.

Ryan Coogler, director of Creed and Fruitvale Station, has been tapped to direct Chadwick Boseman in the solo Black Panther movie, set to release in February, 2018.

Meanwhile, there should be a new Captain America: Civil War trailer that drops sometime today, and it may or may not heavily feature a certain web-slinging teenager. Disney has confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Captain America: Civil War‘s runtime is 2 hours and 27 minutes, making it the longest Marvel Studios film thus far.

Captain America: Civil War opens in theaters on May 6, 2016. The superhero film stars Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Emily VanCamp, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, and Frank Grillo, along with William Hurt and Daniel Brühl.

[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images/Marvel Studios]

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