https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/movies/best-movies-21st-century.html
96. Black Panther (Ryan Coogler, 2018)
There’s so much to love. It’s a superhero spectacle that actually has something important to say, about how identity, history and responsibility intersect. Wakanda, the Afrofuturistic world where the story takes place, is a visual wonder. The women (played by Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o and Letitia Wright — all excellent) aren’t just sidekicks or love interests. Michael B. Jordan, as the tragically villainous Killmonger, has never been more swoon worthy. And, of course, Chadwick Boseman shines in the title role, sadly one of his last before dying of cancer.
But one of the criteria is “they’re from the same country”. That’s grasping.
It’s not grasping, they have the same power set from the same source.
Yeah, the same power set isn’t grasping. But is Darren Cross a shadowy reflection of Steve Rogers because they’re both American? The nationality part is grasping.
And so the same power set MIGHT mean that Killmonger’s a shadowy reflection of T’Challa (and I say “MIGHT” because is Captain Love a shadowy reflection of Zorro just because they’re both good with swords? Would making him a fellow Californian make him one? Is every boxer that Rocky fights a “shadowy reflection” of him, just because they’re fellow boxers?), but does that mean that Black Panther is the same movie as all other Marvel movies? Not really. “The hero and villain have similar abilities” is ultimately a very small part of the overall movie. This entire line of criticism of the movie is a stretch, and seems more like a post-facto rationalization for dislike of the movie that comes from somewhere else.