Black Panther Review: When Careful Planning Meets the Perfect Moment

“It’s your time to rule.” In Black Panther, Marvel Studios LLC’s movie due out on Feb. 16, that line is delivered to T’Challa, the ­titular character. But it could as easily be a pronouncement about the film itself, which has already sold more advance tickets than any other superhero movie—and sparked a grass-roots campaign for screenings and fund­raisers to help school-age children see it.

It’s worth remembering that Black Panther’s ascent to blockbuster status wasn’t always a foregone conclusion. Hollywood hand-wringers had their pick of regressive reasons: The film is set in Africa, its cast is predominantly black, and it shares a name with a controversial revolutionary movement. The lesser-known character first appeared in 1966, in an issue of Fantastic Four, three months before Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party.