Fun fact: Black Panther was Marvel Comics’ first black superhero. First debuting in 1966 in an issue of the Fantastic Four, he has since grown to be one of Marvel’s most beloved and well-known heroes.

And now he stars in his own solo movie within the MCU.

As always, there may be spoilers within this review. Read on at your own risk. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Taking place roughly a week after the events of Captain America: Civil War, the film follows T’Challa, the Black Panther, as he returns to his home country of Wakanda to take the throne after the death of his father. But he must fight for the mantle as King and Black Panther against Eric Killmonger, a man who wants to use Wakanda’s highly advanced technology for his own purposes.

This movie, alongside the upcoming Avengers movie in May, would decide the fate of the MCU. If handled badly, everything could collapse around the universe the MCU has been building on for the past ten years.

Fortunately, in my opinion, Black Panther proved far better than my expectations.

First, you have the cast. Chadwick Boseman and Martin Freeman reprise their roles as T’Challa/Black Panther and CIA Special Agent Everett K. Ross from Captain America: Civil War, while new cast members include Michael B. Jordan as Erik Killmonger, Luptia Nyong’o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Angela Bassett as Ramonda, and Forest Whitaker as Zuri. Each cast member in his or her own right was incredibly good, but together, they were magnificent. Boseman’s performance of T’Challa was amazingly well done, and I was really pleased to see him take center stage after his debut in Civil War.

The plot itself was also really well done. It was extremely powerful, and it felt almost like the Lion King in nature. There wasn’t really any part of the movie that felt slow, or not important to the plot of the movie in the long run. Not only that, but this plot also was effective in demonstrating the culture in not only Wakanda, but Africa as well.

Overall, I give this movie a 9.8/10, or an A. Black Panther is one of the best films of the MCU to date, and continues to prove that the MCU is one of the most successful franchises in the movie industry.