Martin Freeman says he understands the “frustration” some people have with the amount of Marvel films being released, but he countered that the MCU creates good films, like Black Panther and its anticipated sequel.
The Responder actor returns as Everett K Ross in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which deals with the death of T’Challa in the MCU after Chadwick Boseman’s tragic passing in real life.
Directed by Ryan Coogler, the story follows the likes of Shuri (Letitia Wright), Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), Okoye (Danai Gurira), M’Baku (Winston Duke) and Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) as they take on underwater monarch Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta.
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Reflecting on all of the MCU films and TV series currently around, Freeman told RadioTimes.com: “I see the frustration of some people who say there’s too much of it – I get what they mean. But I just think a good film is a good film, you know?
“So I think if we want good films, some of them are going to be romantic comedies and some of them are going to be Marvel films or superhero movie.
“And I think that’s fair, really, because that’s quite a broad scope and if we want an artistic palette that has a lot of different things in it – not only espionage dramas or not only romcoms – then I think the superhero thing has totally earned its place in that.”
Freeman also described Wakanda Forever as political, which he says is the duty and responsibility of an artist.
“I always felt from the time I read the first Black Panther that it was political – not necessarily with a big p, but it was it was saying things that I was vaguely surprised at, to the extent of it,” he explained.
“I mean, I think if you go back to the beginning of the MCU, Iron Man says little things too, it does – about the military industrial complex and about American overseas involvement, stuff like that. Not smashing you over the head with it, because I also don’t think it should, because that’s literally not our job.
“But I think alluding to things is fine and responsible and maybe the duty of an artist, and an artist’s duty as people who live in free societies is to comment on things.”
The film deals with race and identity, the oppression of colonialism and celebrates black heritage.
Additional reporting by David Craig.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is released in cinemas on 11th November 2022.
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