The actor and producer Ryan Coogler has become the first individual in thawing the once-frozen relationship between Marvel Studios and DC Studios after giving credit to Jason Momoa’s performance as Aquaman. This also pawed the way for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to introduce the aquatic villain, Namor.
Tenoch Huerta Meja, who plays the film’s main adversary, is a huge breakthrough from the sequel to 2018’s Black Panther honoring and starring the late Chadwick Boseman as the titular character. The character has been a prominent figure in Marvel comics for some time now.
The aquatic villain has been a staple in Marvel comics for years, but he’s never made it to the big screen owing to a mix of licensing issues and Marvel Studios’ preference for other villains. However, filmmaker Ryan Coogler was ecstatic to bring the character to life.
In an interview, Coogler highlighted how the Marvel creative team handled the debut of Namor while also praising DC for their efforts on Aquaman:
“I do think that having Aquaman out in the world, in film language, and being successful in the marketplace, I think it was a great bit of indirect guidance for us to lean into the things that made Namor different from Aquaman. Just out of respect to the audience because a lot of people saw that movie.
A lot of people love that movie. It was our task to, obviously, put our heads down and blinders on and make our movie, but also have a sense of awareness of what the marketplace might want to respond to, and might be interested in.
I think giving people something different, if you can give somebody something good, that’s also unique, I think it’s always better. We wanted to lean into the things that make those two characters different from each other because they have a lot of other similarities in publishing.”
The comments by Coogler were made on the same evening that Dwayne Johnson reached out towards the Black Panther team to yield his congratulations on the Marvel movie opening to the highest-ever box office result for the month of November. Johnson’s message came on the heels of the announcement that Black Panther had opened to the highest-ever box office result for the month of November.
A huge congratulations to the entire #BlackPanther TEAM, @MarvelStudios @DisneyStudios
Biggest opening ever for the month of November 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 💪🏾🥃
That’s a lot of happy movie goers around the world.
Beautiful!!! Can’t wait to see the movie.
~ #BlackAdam— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) November 13, 2022
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Johnson, whose picture Black Adam has been the number-one movie in the world since its premiere a month ago, was gracious in his compliments when his film was vanquished, adding that he was “really happy” for the other movie “Beautiful!!! I really cannot wait to see the movie “ and ended the conversation by signing out as Black Adam.
This is just the most recent development in the recently blossoming “relationship” between the two companies, which has been made all the more fascinating by the recent announcement that James Gunn has agreed to take over the administration of DC Studios with Peter Safran.
In response to this, Kevin Feige, the President of Marvel Studios, stated that he was “excited” to see James Gunn’s projects for DC. He also added that he didn’t know how Gunn would have the opportunity to run the studio in addition to successfully completing his work for Marvel on the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, but that he would be “first in line” to see any of Gunn’s future projects.
Gunn has stated that he is “excited” to see his projects for DC Gunn invited Feige on the set of DC’s The Suicide Squad (2021), which Gunn wrote and directed after being briefly and controversially fired by Disney. Both Feige and Gunn have insisted that the two studios have no true rivalry.
Visit your nearest cinemas right now to witness more of Namor and Ryan Coogler’s work, as the sequel to “Black Panther,” titled “Wakanda Forever,” is now playing in cinemas.
