Already seen ‘Black Panther’? Here are some references you might have missed

“Black Panther” is a mass-appeal superhero movie, breaking box-office records with its dazzling special effects, heart-pumping fight scenes and charismatic characters brought to life by a predominantly black cast.

It also tells a story laden with some pretty complex and specific references that you may or may not immediately notice. Here are a few things to know after watching “Black Panther.”

The Oakland connection

While most of “Black Panther” takes place in Wakanda and South Korea, we get to see Oakland, California, in 1992 and in the present day. The Bay Area city, which serves as some Wakandans’ American home base, is a fitting choice for the film.

Ryan Coogler to use Oakland, his home town, as the connection instead. The first scene that Coogler wrote was the opening scene that takes place there in the early 1990s, he told I09. “Writing it was a test of what this movie could be.”

“The interesting part about being black is until you open up your mouth, people don’t know where you’re from,” Coogler told the outlet. “I thought it would be cool if you start on the scene in Oakland. You have these two black dudes, they talk and (you go) ‘Oh, it’s two black dudes from Oakland.’ And then at some point the guy switches and starts talking with the African accent. ‘Oh s-, wait, this dude’s from Africa?’ You realize, ‘Oh yeah, I can’t tell the difference. He (looks like) the same people you know.’”

Co-writer Robert Joe Cole added that starting in Oakland “was never a question. That was Ryan. That’s his heart. That was where that was going to be.”

Oakland is also the birthplace of the Black Panther organization, which began there in the 1960s before it became a nationwide phenomenon. One of their most popular community programs – providing free breakfast to children — started in the California city in 1968.

Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis (who also had roles in movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien novels) play characters from the comic books and appear in the movie to serve the broader story with black people at its center. Serkis plays the villainous black-market arms dealer Ulysses Klaue, who looks down on Wakandans as undeserving of their precious metal, and represents the plundering of African resources. Freeman is American CIA operative Everett K. Ross, who is tasked with buying a sample of vibranium.

Ross has a condescending attitude toward Wakandans and then morphs into an ally after shielding Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) from a bullet. But later, especially as Wakandans fight among each other over their place in the world, Ross’ continued presence could make you wonder: Why is he still around, since it’s not really about him? Well, at the very least, he’s a helpful foil. The audience gets to see him utterly baffled by Wakanda’s advances, which T’Challa and the others aren’t trying to prove to him anyway. And he’s the butt of some cathartic, comedic relief.

In one scene, as several Wakandan leaders debate, he tries to chime in. He’s promptly shushed by Shuri and called a colonizer, and not able to get a word in edgewise.

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