Black Panther may not be the first superhero film to
place a black lead front and centre — Wesley Snipes made two great Blade movies plus another one, and the»90s delivered a handful of now - forgotten fare with black men behind the mask (Spawn, Steel, Blankman, The Meteor Man)-- but it is the first to surround its hero with an equally
diverse cast, and announce itself as the new blockbuster status - quo, not a one - off alternative for a
widely underrepresented audience.