<P> At San Diego Comic - Con 2016, Nyong'o was confirmed for the film, in the role of Nakia, while Jordan's role was revealed to be Erik Killmonger . Also announced was Danai Gurira as Okoye . Coogler confirmed that filming would begin in January 2017 . Additional casting occurred from September 2016 until the start of filming, with Winston Duke cast as M'Baku, a role that Yahya Abdul - Mateen II had also tested for; Forest Whitaker as Zuri; Daniel Kaluuya as W'Kabi; Angela Bassett as T'Challa's mother, Ramonda; Sterling K. Brown as N'Jobu; and Letitia Wright in an unspecified role . Florence Kasumba was revealed to be reprising her role as Ayo from Captain America: Civil War . Amandla Stenberg, who is bi-racial and light skinned, was considered for a role in the film but was not comfortable taking the place of a dark - skinned actor, and described her decision to pass on the role as "really challenging". By January 2017, Marvel received permission from the Oakland, California - based public transit agency AC Transit to use their logo in the film for the opening flashback sequence . The setting was chosen due to Coogler growing up in that area . </P> <P> The production team was inspired by Ta - Nehisi Coates' run on Black Panther, who was writing the comic at the same time as they were working on the film . Of particular inspiration was Coates' poetic dialogue, Brian Stelfreeze's art, and "some of the questions that it's asking". The film was also inspired by the comic runs of Jack Kirby, Christopher Priest (which Coogler felt most influenced the film), Jonathan Hickman, and Hudlin . Characters for the film were picked from throughout the comics based on what worked for the film's story . The ceremonial betrothal aspect of the Dora Milaje was not adapted from the comics for the film . Coogler had hoped to include Spider - Man villain Kraven the Hunter early in the process because of a scene in Priest's run that had T'Challa fighting Kraven, but the rights to the character were not available . Donald Glover and his brother Stephen made some minor contributions to an early draft of the script, developing the relationship between T'Challa and his younger sister Shuri . Moore noted that an early script had more scenes outside of Wakanda to explore "what it means to be African and African - American in the world a bit more", and hoped these could be revisited in a later film, particularly a "super cool" sequence that was storyboarded before being cut . </P> <P> Feige described Black Panther as "a big geopolitical action adventure" that focuses on family and T'Challa learning to be king, with Civil War laying the groundwork for T'Challa's morality and establishing the geopolitical landscape that he would have to deal with on returning to Wakanda . Moore compared the politics and humor of the film to Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), saying that the former would be inherent but not "preachy", and that the latter would avoid the tones of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and Ant - Man (2015). He also said the film would be a cross between The Godfather (1972) and the James Bond films as a "big, operatic family drama centered around a world of international espionage". Coogler was influenced by 1970s films such as the works of Francis Ford Coppola in that decade, as well as crime fiction . He also watched the film A Prophet (2009) for inspiration . Feige called the film's story "rich in culturally relevant ideas", with Boseman indicating there were parallels to "pull from" in the film in relation to Donald Trump becoming President of the United States after Barack Obama, though Feige added that "these are conversations we were having two years ago because that is inherently the story within the comics ." Moore said the film does not depend on the plots of any other MCU films, but it does affect the wider MCU moving forward, with Feige stating the film was "a very important" link to Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and its sequel (2019). Civil War did introduce the Wakandan language, based on the Xhosa language, which Boseman was taught by John Kani who portrays T'Challa's father King T'Chaka . </P> <P> Cole called the film an historic opportunity to depict a black superhero "at a time when African - Americans are affirming their identities while dealing with vilification and dehumanization". It was important to root film in the actual cultures of Africa, with the filmmakers consulting with experts on the region of Africa that Wakanda is supposed to be located in, rooting the film "in reality first and then build (ing) out from there". Coogler compared the rarity of vibranium existing only in Wakanda to the real - life mineral coltan that can almost only be found in Congo . He wanted Wakanda to feel like a full country with multiple distinct tribes, and created a project bible that detailed each Wakandan tribe to guide the design process . Special care was taken to create a futuristic look that was not alien, as some of Jack Kirby's original comic designs appeared . </P>

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