I initially wanted to write this as spoiler free, but realized something I want to discuss is a spoiler, so be warned SPOILERS ahead.

So I just got out of Black Panther and my initial reaction is that it’s a good movie. I just had this gut feeling I wanted to write something about this film to sort out my feelings about it. It definitely fits into the Marvel Mold of movies and can stand toe to toe with most of them, but is it the best Marvel movie of all time? No.

Now don’t get me wrong it hits all of the MCU boxes. Great hero that does the right thing in front of un-surmountable odds? Check. Beautiful visuals? Check. Great action sequences? Check. But to say this movie is perfect would be wrong, and there were a couple of things about this movie that bothered me. And a nagging feeling in the back of my head while watching the film I’ll get to in a minute.

I feel the best way to describe Black Panther is, it is a a retelling of Hamlet in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with modern political themes thrown in. And I think Fiege and Coogler did a great job folding this story into the MCU. one of the things that makes this movie work is it is a true stand alone film. You don’t need to worry about seeing any of the other MCU films to enjoy this one. That aspect I really did enjoy.

And once again, like in Captain America: Civil War, Chadwick Boseman proves he is the perfect T’Challa/Black Panther. He brings just the right mixture of gravitas, charm and charisma to the role. I really can’t wait to see more of Boseman as Black Panther.

The main antagonist of the movie is Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger. Jordan does an excellent job portraying this  compelling villain. And thought I really enjoyed his performance, the more I thought about the character of Killmonger I began to realize what bothered me about the film. Killmonger is Hela the main protagonist from Thor Ragnarok.

And that’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks Black Panther and Thor: Ragnarok are the same exact story. In both films after the king dies a usurper with strong claims to the throne returns to take over the kingdom. In both movies when they first show up the defeat the hero in some way where they are no longer a factor in the usurper taking over and in both the villain plans to use the kingdoms strengths to conquer others. And the similarities don’t stop there, but I think you see my point.

Look I understand that when you are 18 movies in some of the movies will have similar stories, but we just saw this one. In fact they are so similar I am wiling to bet that Black Panther is based on an early draft of Ragnarok. Does this make Black Panther a bad movie? No, not at all. Like I said earlier it’s a play on Hamlet just like the Thor movies. I just wish maybe there was more of a gap between them. We just saw Ragnarok.

Again I really enjoyed this movie and highly recommend people go see it. I was just hoping for Black Panther’s big stand alone film debut we had gotten something a little more unique.  For this reason I’m giving Black Panther a 7 out of 10 capes and I hope you go see it and enjoy it. Don’t forget to check out our full spoilerifc review in he next episode of the podcast.

What did you think? Let me know in the comments.