Onscreen History of Black Panther

Making his debut in 1966's Fantastic Four #52, the Black Panther was the first mainstream black superhero in American comics. T'Challa is king of the African nation of Wakanda, and over his career has served as a member of the Avengers.With rumblings that Black Panther may get to headline his own feature film in the second phase of Marvel Studio films, its time to look at his onscreen history.

Retrospective 2010 - Part 1

2010 was a prolific year for superhero shows; and while bigger isn't always better, among this year's output of nuggets there were a fair number of gems. On the other hand some of these nuggets should be tossed aside last last week's left over McDonald's 20 piece. In this part 1, we will revisit shows that arrived during the pre-summer season of 2010.

Human Target

In January, Fox launched the second attempt at a Human Target television series based on the Vertigo (DC) comic book series. Although the series found a big enough audience for a second season, dwindling numbers seem to forecast a dim outlook for the show's future.

Black Panther
The Black Panther animated mini-series created in the motion comic style was intended to debut on BET, but ended up hitting airwaves in Australia in January, later arriving online in the US. I am not sure what all the issues were, but the Marvel Disney merger may have had an effect on this release as it did on other animation projects. In any case, its always nice for a new character to headline his own series. Hopefully Daredevil won't be far behind.



Planet Hulk

February's Direct to Video debut of Planet Hulk was one of the year's early surprises. Many fans of Marvel's animated movies may have felt some Hulk saturation after the Jolly Green One appeared in 4 of the first 6 films. But the 5th time was the charm as this interesting variation offered a fresh take on the character while keeping in plenty of "smash!"

Defendor

Woody's realistic take on street vigilante's found its way to the US in February earning $44,000 in its theatrical debut and somehow paving the way for a similar themed project for Dwight in Super.

The Justice Society of America

Even though Smallville has been on for years, the 9th season featured the first onscreen appearance of the classic Justice Society of America team, the first superhero team in comics (debuting in 1940). Although members of the JSA had appeared elsewhere previously either solo or as members of the Justice League, this was the first time the JSA got some well deserved attention. Hawkman, Dr. Fate, and Stargirl got most of the focus along with nemesis Icicle.

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths

In late February, DC countered with a Direct To Video of its own. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths made use of a long dormant script originally planned for as a movie for the Justice League animated series. The story inspired by the Justice League Earth 2 comic saw the League taking on alternate Earth evil counterparts, known as the Crime Syndicate led by the nefarious Owl Man.

The Spectre

Accompanying the Justice League movie was The Spectre, a fantastic ten minute short ushering in DC's new and possible short lived Showcase line focusing on lesser know heroes.


The Losers

As summer neared, a couple of clunkers hit the big screen starting with The Losers. This A-Team wanna-be team of underdogs failed to capture a mainstream audience. On the other this film gave DC's Vertigo its second live-action adaption of the year.

Kick Ass

Spring ended with the ultra violent adaptation of the Kick-Ass comic which earned decent enough reviews and a fair box office earning total of $48 million. Though there is talk of a sequel, its doubtful that hard R heroes are the next big thing.

What to Expect in 2010 - Part 2

Part 1 covered upcoming shows through June. In part 2, we will finish off 2010.

02 Jul 2010 - The Last Airbender

Avatar: The Last Airbender is an amazing TV series. I do not expect The Last Airbender movie (having dropped the Avatar to avoid confusion with the current phenomenon) to be as good, but hopefully M. Night Shyamalamading-dong can do the series some justice. If not, at least we will always have the animated version. Either way, landing the 4th of July weekend was a big win for this movie and may allow it to follow in the footsteps of last years Ice Age 3 (released during the same weekend made $884 million worldwide) on its way to global domination.


Summer 2010 - Batman Under the Red Hood

Though no details have been released, the title for DC's summer DtV movie Batman: Under the Red Hood has been announced. Believe it or not, this is only Batman's second solo feature in the line and the first, Gotham Knight, was more of a gimmick that a movie with a story. So, I am looking forward to this one even though it seems like focusing on an obscure villain is an interesting choice. Who knows, its possible Red Hood is the Joker. That makes more sense.

Augustish 2010 - Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

I don't know much about Scott Pilgrim other than that he is a comic book character that must defeat 7 ex boyfriends to win a date with a bonnie lass. Does that make him a superhero? I guess that depends on whether or not he wins.

05 Nov 2010 - Megamind

Originally Master Mind then Oobermind, its now Megamind. Dreamworks is no Pixar but its also no Fox animation studios, so maybe this will be an interesting "fractured fairy tale" like take on the Superhero genre.

17 Dec 2010 - The Green Hornet

Will The Green Hornet be this years surprise hit as was Sherlock Holmes? Maybe. If it is a big hit, I will be surprised. Will it be this generations lackluster Dick Tracy. Also fairly likely. Then again this picture is all we have to go on thus far.

Sometime in 2010, Maybe

A couple of other projects are in the works with release dates that are still up in the air.

The Black Panther will be the star of an animated mini-series on BET. The motion comic style episodes may air elsewhere as soon as February, but in these United States we still don't know when they will arrive.

The Canadian made Woody Harrelson film Defendor debuted in 2009 at the Toronto film festival and will probably be seen in broader release at some point. Does this description excite you? "Arthur Poppington is a regular but delusional man who believes that he is a superhero named Defendor. He combs the city streets at night in search of his arch enemy, Captain Industry, befriending a young prostitute in his quest."

Lastly, the Phantom having already aired in Canada is set to debut as a mini-series on SyFy. Hardly anyone seems to have watched it when it was on, but those that did don't have much favorable to say. So, don't go signing up for cable to watch this one.

With so many projects forthcoming, surely some of them have to be good. Right? If not, fear not. In part 3 we will look at all those other sci-fi and fantasy movies that will be vying for your hard earned cash.