Wesley Snipes Black Panther no longer - Marvel may pick Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

In other movie news, there has been a major change. The long talked about film Black Panther, about the Marvel Comics character and not the political party, has moved forward towards production. But the lead for the titular role has changed.

Originally this was a film that was driven by Wesley Snipes, and was set to have him star as the only other major comic book African American character to make it to a movie format. This was of course driven by the successes of the 3 Blade movies and the television series it inspired. All due to the acting of Wesley Snipes, with decent helpings of action and the vampire mystique that is currently popular.

But that was all before the U.S. Government decided to railroad Snipes for tax evasion. The negative media blast, and the 3 misdemeanor convictions, seems to have made Snipes unpopular among the Hollywood execs. Though it is unclear at the moment if his production company has lost the rights to this film.

Instead of Snipes, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje has become the leading actor for the role of T’challa Prince of the fictional African nation Wakanda. Which is a decent choice no less. Agbaje is probably best known to most for his roles in the television shows Lost and Oz.

Something I do want to note though is a possible trend in Marvel Comics. The switch from Snipes to Agbaje is similar in ways to the switch in Iron Man 2 from Terrence howard to Don Cheadle. In both cases the presumptive lead was changed with little fanfare, though the quality of the actors was maintained.

What that means I cannot say. But since rumors of a Luke Cage (Power Man) movie is also floating around – obviously to cash in on the trend in Black movies popularity and the existence of President Obama – I will find it interesting to see how Marvel handles the actors there as well.

I am glad to see that the few African American heroes of comic books are getting a moment to shine. It’s interesting to watch as Hollywood, and comic book companies, are starting to recognize the importance and buying power of the African American audience. Something that would likely not have happened without the election of President Obama. Which is in itself a shame.

The only other question left is if the storyline and history of T’challa will be butchered like that of Wolverine and The Hulk (think Ang Lee’s miserable version), or maintained and promoted like Spiderman and Iron Man. If Marvel gets it right, it will be gold.

So long as the movie gets underway before President Obama’s approval rating gets too much lower. Otherwise, I bet all these movies and characters (including War Machine) just disappear.