The 15 Blackest Things About the New Trailer for Black Panther

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…

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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Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?

2. Although the first voice you hear is from a white man, the first face you see is Chadwick Bosemanโ€™s King Tโ€™Challa with an expression saying, โ€œWhy the fuck is this white man talking? DOES HE NOT KNOW THAT THIS IS THE TRAILER FOR THE BLACK PANTHER MOVIE, NOT THE โ€˜WHITE MAN SAYS WORDS THAT VAGUELY MATTER TO PEOPLEโ€™ MOVIE?โ€

3. At the 30-second mark, Danai Guriraโ€™s Okoye says, โ€œWe are homeโ€โ€”reminding the audience that theyโ€™re about to witness some black-ass shit. And if theyโ€™re 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 donโ€™t know, go microwave some celery or something.

4. Angela Bassettโ€™s 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 Lupitaโ€™s hairโ€”which would totally be the name of my fantasy football team if I gave a shit about fantasy footballโ€”basically telling Tโ€™Challa that every nigga is a star.

(Also, Iโ€™m currently having three separate conversations with three separate black womenโ€”all trying to determine exactly what theyโ€™d call Lupitaโ€™s hairstyle. One insists that itโ€™s bantu knots, and another insists itโ€™s a really defined twist-out. Letโ€™s just say that Batman v Superman did not inspire these types of discussions.)

6. Okoye instructing Tโ€™Challa not to freeze and him replying, โ€œI never freeze,โ€ which is true because you canโ€™t freeze if youโ€™re already cool as fuck. You canโ€™t freeze an ice cube, nigga.

7. Michael B. Jordan coming through like the angriest member of B2K ever.

8. My instinct to still scream, โ€œWhereโ€™s 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 canโ€™t be meta as fuck, too?

10. Michael B2Kโ€™s face when heโ€™s surrounded by all those flames at the 1:21 markโ€”which 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 sheโ€™s doing now.

13. Okoyeโ€™s stick maneuvering at 1:51, a callback to Danaiโ€™s โ€œday jobโ€ on The Walking Dead and a reminder that black people (actresses included) all need side hustles.

14. The remixed version of Gil Scott-Heronโ€™s โ€œThe Revolution Will Not Be Televisedโ€ playing through the trailer, which is somewhat paradoxical, since weโ€™re watching a televised trailer while listening to it, but blackness is somewhat paradoxical, so itโ€™s apropos.

15. The fact that I donโ€™t know shit about comic booksโ€”or superheroes, really, other than Batman and Supermanโ€”and didnโ€™t even know that Black Panther existed until, like, five years ago (donโ€™t judge me), but Iโ€™m actually sitting here today, in October of 2017, already thinking about the black-ass shit Iโ€™m going to wear to this premiere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjDjIWPwcPU

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