1. The screen at the 0:00 mark right before the trailer started. I know black screens are standard before a film starts and after it ends, but this black screen was an extra, deeper black. A Maya and Amiri at the Schomburg black. I saw this black and immediately felt compelled to take a shot of Henny. (AND I HATE HENNY!)
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2. Although the first voice you hear is from a white man, the first face you see is Chadwick Bosemanโs King TโChalla with an expression saying, โWhy the fuck is this white man talking? DOES HE NOT KNOW THAT THIS IS THE TRAILER FOR THE BLACK PANTHER MOVIE, NOT THE โWHITE MAN SAYS WORDS THAT VAGUELY MATTER TO PEOPLEโ MOVIE?โ
3. At the 30-second mark, Danai Guriraโs Okoye says, โWe are homeโโreminding the audience that theyโre about to witness some black-ass shit. And if theyโre not ready to witness some black-ass shit, they need to take their not-ready-to-witness-some-black-ass-shit asses back to their wack-ass homes. And, I donโt know, go microwave some celery or something.
4. Angela Bassettโs flawless skin, which basically looks like what would happen if a Kehinde Wiley print came to life and had sex with a peach.
5. Lupita and Lupitaโs hairโwhich would totally be the name of my fantasy football team if I gave a shit about fantasy footballโbasically telling TโChalla that every nigga is a star.
(Also, Iโm currently having three separate conversations with three separate black womenโall trying to determine exactly what theyโd call Lupitaโs hairstyle. One insists that itโs bantu knots, and another insists itโs a really defined twist-out. Letโs just say that Batman v Superman did not inspire these types of discussions.)
6. Okoye instructing TโChalla not to freeze and him replying, โI never freeze,โ which is true because you canโt freeze if youโre already cool as fuck. You canโt freeze an ice cube, nigga.
7. Michael B. Jordan coming through like the angriest member of B2K ever.
8. My instinct to still scream, โWhereโs Wallace?!โ each time I see Michael B. Jordan on screen.
9. The black panthers meeting with Black Panther at the 1:12 mark, because who said black people canโt be meta as fuck, too?
10. Michael B2Kโs face when heโs surrounded by all those flames at the 1:21 markโwhich is the same face you make when forced to consume unseasoned and undercooked chicken at a work-retreat breakout session and the same level of heat you wish the chicken was cooked at.
11. The white man shooting that gun at the 1:27 mark, a not-so-subtle reminder that white men with guns and bad haircuts ruin everything.
12. The flip Black Panther does at the 1:43 mark, which made me Google Gabby Douglas just to see what sheโs doing now.
13. Okoyeโs stick maneuvering at 1:51, a callback to Danaiโs โday jobโ on The Walking Dead and a reminder that black people (actresses included) all need side hustles.
14. The remixed version of Gil Scott-Heronโs โThe Revolution Will Not Be Televisedโ playing through the trailer, which is somewhat paradoxical, since weโre watching a televised trailer while listening to it, but blackness is somewhat paradoxical, so itโs apropos.
15. The fact that I donโt know shit about comic booksโor superheroes, really, other than Batman and Supermanโand didnโt even know that Black Panther existed until, like, five years ago (donโt judge me), but Iโm actually sitting here today, in October of 2017, already thinking about the black-ass shit Iโm going to wear to this premiere.
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