One of the (many, many) reasons why Marvel Studios’ “Black Panther” has already been so successful is because of something that it doesn’t do. By focusing the story on the fictional country of Wakanda, with one brief detour in South Korea, “Black Panther” succeeds in being a completely stand-alone story. Even though it’s technically the 18th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, if you hadn’t seen the first 17, you absolutely wouldn’t be lost watching the film.
However, if you are a loyal MCU-devotee, and the ticket sales of Marvel Studios films would indicate there are quite a few of you out there, there was one big lingering question that you had hoped would be answered in “Black Panther” and, for the most part, wasn’t.
**SPOILERS AHEAD**
During an interview with The Empire Film Podcast, “Black Panther” co-writer/director Ryan Coogler was asked about one Avenger that wasn’t mentioned or seen in the film, until the very, very end – Bucky Barnes aka the Winter Soldier. Bucky was last seen in “Captain America: Civil War,” where he was cryogenically frozen (again) after a battle with Iron Man. Where was he frozen? Well, none other than Wakanda, under the watchful eye of the new king, T’Challa.
In the end-credits scene of “Black Panther,” we do see Bucky wake up in Wakanda and talk to Shuri. It’s very brief, and only hints at what happened post-‘Civil War.’ So, why did Coogler limit Bucky to a post-post-credits scene with Shuri? He has a couple answers.
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“That was something that was always — it was a Shuri thing, because in our world we kind of figured that Bucky Barnes would be her assignment. We kind of drop the hint at that when they bring Ross in and she’s like, ‘Oh another one.’ So, we dropped hints in there, but what we kind of decided was that her cracking his mental code, if Shuri’s as smart as she is, that wouldn’t really be a big problem,” said Coogler.
When speaking specifically about why he didn’t include Bucky in the main story, it’s pretty simple. Bucky would have made things way too complicated. “But Bucky would have horrible PTSD, he would need spiritual guidance. The last thing he would need to do is jump into that civil war, and so that was kind of the thought process there. And it could be potentially problematic if it’s a bunch of Africans fighting and you bring in a White dude, he comes in shootin’ people (laughs). We were aware of that. Bucky’s not trained to neutralize people peacefully, he’s an assassin. We were like, ‘I don’t know if we can do that,” said the director.
After hearing Coogler’s explanation, it’s clear that he ultimately made the right choice, as he did for the majority of “Black Panther.” But those who worry that the Bucky sub-plot will be left dangling, never fear! Judging by the trailer, Bucky, T’Challa, and all of Wakanda seem to figure pretty heavily in the upcoming “Avengers: Infinity War.”
Best of all, you only have to wait until May 4th for those answers, when ‘Infinity War’ hits theaters. [via JoBlo]