Wakanda Forever, The Most Powerful Marketing Weapon of Black Panther

In early February 2018, Marvel released a Black Panther movie, a movie about a superhero who comes from a fictional country called Wakanda. Black Panther is one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series which released this year along with up and coming Avengers: Infinity Wars and Ant-Man. Like other successful Marvel movies, Black Panther is not an only financial success.

Black Panther takes the timeline just a few weeks after the Captain America movie: Civil Wars, which released in 2016. Narrated after the loss of King T’Chaka, T’Chala (played by Chadwick Boseman) the son took over the royal throne and will soon crown as king of Wakanda. Wakanda is a fictional and hidden land in East Africa which has precious natural resources and minerals. The most expensive material in the world, Vibranium can only be found in Wakanda. The existence of the Vibranium mine makes Wakanda so wealthy and has sophisticated technology compared to other countries.

Returning to Wakanda, T’Chala faces several problems. From his ability to continue the royal throne and to protect his entire people, the existence of the figure Erick Killmonger (Michael B Jordan) who seeks to dethrone him from the throne, until his dilemma as a king to keeping peace in the world.

Black Panther, which directed by Ryan Coogler is the only film that ever launched by Marvel who discuss thoroughly and appreciably with the African culture. Almost all the main cast and extras in this film are people of African descent. Some cultural treasures, ranging from clothing, music, art, and linguistic accents appear in this movie.

Forbes mentions that Black Panther is a Marvel film with the biggest income. Until the third week of March, Black Panther managed to get a revenue of more than US $ 1 billion worldwide. However, there is one thing that makes the Black Panther became Marvel’s best release to date.

As already mentioned, Black Panther managed to lift the cultural richness of African society, both form of art, culture, music, to socio-political views. These make the Black Panther managed to raise the other side of the African community. In fact, some things that exist in the movie successfully adapted to the real world as the symbols of the African society struggle.

Several public figures have adopted the ‘Wakanda Forever’ greeting which is repeatedly featured in the movie. Tennis players Sachia Vickery and Gael Monfils gave the gesture of ‘Wakanda Forever’ in the match they played. Football players, Jesse Lingard and Paul Pogba also greeted ‘Wakanda Forever’ by crossing both hands on the chest as a tribute after successfully scored.

“It’s not just a symbol. It’s everything. This is a sign that I support the Black Panther community, “said Gael Monfils.

Black Panther is one of the resistance of African communities against white domination in Hollywood. Despite being excluded from the Academy Awards best film list, King T’Challa’s journey coexists with movies that lift the same struggles of other African communities such as Moonlight, 12 Years a Slave and Get Out.

Cultural exploration and socio-political issues are the most significant marketing power of Black Panther success.

With ‘Wakanda Forever’ gesture echoed by some world-renowned figures, Black Panther not only provides an excellent advantage for Marvel. However, it also provides a cultural heritage and unity for the struggle of African community communities around the world.