Review: Marvel’s Avengers: Black Panther’s Quest “Vibranium Curtain”

It’s curtains for this show.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Despite the fact that Black Panther is supposed to be staying just in Wakanda so as to not be taken out by the Avengers as a result of his supposed participation in killing Captain America, the king decides to head back into downtown NYC to scale the Avengers building and get information on Killmonger. While there, Black Panther gets into battles with new and returning faces like Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, Black Widow, and Iron Man. After an intense battle, it’s Winter Soldier that takes down Black Panther and sends him to a high max prison where Klaue is also holed up.

Black Panther’s goal is to get Klaue and bring him back to Wakanda for questioning as to the whereabouts of the Shadow Council, but as luck would have it, Adrian Toomes shows up to put a wrench in the situation. Spider-Man shows up and helps Black Panther not only get Klaue, but apprehend Vulture, but also acts as a buffer between Iron Man and Black Panther. Spider-Man doesn’t believe that Black Panther is a bad guy and insinuates as such to the other Avengers. Vulture gets sent back to jail, and our episode ends with Black Panther flying Klaue back to Wakanda.

Our Take

When this episode opened up, I was like, “Holy Shit, this week’s episode is gonna be good”. But then the Disney splinters start to show up and now I’m disappointed. As good as the battle scenes were, the Disney produced series subscribed to this weird mix of poor man’s MCU, kid-friendly photon lasers, and stupid outfits. Let’s tackle that last bit first, this show’s take on the Vulture is so laughably horrid, I can’t even begin to believe that these character designers are still employed. Vulture literally looks like a Battle Borg, which fits perfectly with the other Battle Borg designs for Iron Man and Ant-Man, and Winter Soldier’s gun is a mix between the one he has in Captain America: Winter Soldier and a laser gun, only the grenade launcher component changes functionality as the battle wears on. I get it, it’s a bit of a nit-pick, but then we’re thrown this anime-like sequence where Black Panther and Iron Man are going at it and reading off their new powers which is about as cliche shonen as you’re gonna find.

It sucks because there is some killer art direction in this week’s episode that kind of goes to waste. Cap’s funeral was excellent, and then there’s this scene where the moon is hidden and the Black Panther strikes in darkest night, all of which alludes to producers that are probably hand-cuffed in terms of what they are allowed to do but because of the PG police of now the largest media conglomerate in the world, we’re given this type of shit.

Score
6/10