 Two Shakespearean-inspired superhero films do battle. It's the Lion King, I mean Black Panther, versus Thor on movie feuds. Planet Asgard and the hidden African nation Wakanda are both rich with culture and the people that populate these fictitious places are interesting and varied. The Asgardian clothing, buildings, and leadership are based on Norse mythology, which helps Thor's film stand out when compared to the typical big city locations in the other Marvel properties. Anthony Hopkins rules this small planetary body as Odin. He's commanding yet sympathetic and is a good counter to his brash and arrogant son Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth. It's amazing how much of a change he goes through in three Thor films and two Avengers titles. He's almost unrecognizable in Thor Ragnarok, coming off more as a lovable yet naive college frat guy. Black Panther's title character T'Challa was introduced in Civil War, but in his first solo film we really get to see his place in this universe. Chadwick Boseman reprises his role effortlessly here, but I do think he suffers in the same way Captain America did. He's a good man, a good man with a good heart, and it's hard for a good man to be interesting. In fact, I was far more excited when just about anyone else in Black Panther showed up. The female guards of the throne are simply amazing in this. Thor has his own band of brothers, who look a bit like Lord of the Rings cosplayers. Jamie Alexander has Sif being the only real standout and would have been a damn fine pick for Wonder Woman. We have a couple siblings here as well. T'Challa's sister Shuri, played by Letitia Wright, has it all. Brains, beauty, and a great sense of humor. The same could be said about Loki. He's a troubled trickster as well, who has been one of the strongest Marvel villains for like 18 films. Although Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger gives him a bit of a run for his money, with many calling Jordan's portrayal of the bad guy one of the best yet. I still think Loki takes the crown, but Killmonger is no slouch. They both have very compelling backstories the audience can sympathize with, but we'll talk more about that in round two. Angela Bassett and Renee Rousseau add a touch more class to the pictures, as the mothers of our leads. There are so many damn characters to talk about. Andy Serkis is a crazy arms dealer. Idris Elba is a badass, all-seen gatekeeper of a magical rainbow road called the Bifrost. There's a Mario Kart joke in there somewhere, but I'm not in the mindset to make it. Forrest Whitaker is once again doing his goofy accent shtick, and Kat Dennings is trying her hardest to make Thor funny. To be fair, I think she does succeed more than she fails, so props to her. These movies both have a half-assed love arc too. Thor is as far more successful as the relationship between Hemsworth's character and Portman's Jane Foster is baked into the narrative. So story-wise it works, but man, their chemistry sucks. And this goes on in the second film, and by the third one they just don't even bother. Like, she's just ridden offscreen. They're like, oh yeah, Jane, we broke up. Like, how much does that tell you when two full movies can't even build this relationship fully? I do have far more hope for Lupita's character and Black Panther, but we'll see. We'll see. As it stands, Lupita has very little to do in Black Panther. I'm just happy she's in the picture. I could watch her peel an orange for two hours. She's just a treat. Let's move on to round two. I really chose to feud these two movies together because the stories are oh so similar. We have two heirs to the throne who have to prove they're the right men for the job. But there's a past mistake that comes back to pose trouble for both parties. In Black Panther's case, it's a pissed-off cousin going by the name of Killmonger, an outcast from the beautiful and lush lands of Wakanda. He comes back to claim what he believes is rightfully his, a spot at the top. The same can be said for Loki, who turns out to be the orphaned son of a bitch, son of an ice king. Terrible Thor Ragnarok callback joke. Subscribe. The god of mischief lays out a plan to get his brother banished from Asgard so he can take his place as ruling king. Thor, now on earth, needs to prove he is worthy of wielding a magical hammer to one day return home. The first half of Thor really works well for me. It's full of action, intrigue, a little bit of mischief, a little bit of double crossing, some wild locations. But once the god of thunder hits earth, the movie slows down hard and we get very little in terms of exciting events. There's a Hawkeye cameo. That's, that's something. Panther, on the other hand, ramps up a lot in the middle for me and really picks up steam when Killmonger is in the mix fully. Unfortunately by the final act, it falls into the Ben there done that territory and I lose a lot of interest. Thor is front heavy in the action department too, with the battle against the Frost Giants being the only real highlight. Black Panther's all over the place with the action. The hand-to-hand waterfall fights are great and far more intense than the extremely lackluster end battles that rely far too much on green screen and CG work. Come on, let's talk more about that. From a production standpoint, Thor seems to be a little bit more even-keeled, a little bit more consistent. The CG work is on the higher end of things and somehow manages to look more practical, which is odd considering half the movie takes place on other planets. It's doubly amazing considering this movie only had a budget of 65 million. The music composed by Patrick Doyle is appropriately weighty. The London Symphony Orchestra created 24 powerful tracks that showcase the might of Thor's fall and his rise back to the top. Black Panther is an interesting movie for a myriad of reasons. The African-American influence is all over this thing. The look of the tribes, the inspired art, the historical events woven into the story lines and of course the cast themselves. It's no secret that there's a pathetic shortage of films featuring a prominently black cast, especially in the superhero genre. Not even prominently black characters, but like one black guy. You have the Blade Trilogy. You have Meteor Man. You have Blank Man. You have Hancock? Spawn? Steel? I'm running out. There might be one or two more, but that's just sad. And most those movies suck. On top of that, none of these aforementioned flicks had a budget anywhere near the massive $200 million one Panther did. So for cultural significance in the real world, this is a big deal. I understand. I don't get it because I'm white, but I can pretend like I get it from a black person's perspective. This is huge and there should be far more of these. The numbers don't lie either. This thing's making bank. People want representation, Hollywood. Make it happen. All that said, I don't give movies 10 out of 10s because they have an all female cast or some other gimmick attached to them. Black Panther, however, is no gimmick. It's the real deal, but it is an inconsistent one. So it's no 10 out of 10 for me. It could have benefited significantly from a tighter runtime and much better effects, especially with the budget director Ryan Coogler had to work with. The music is a beautiful blend of different themes and styles. Switching from South African inspired beats to the more familiar Kendrick Lamar jams, where appropriate. Let's close this thing up. With similar arcs and ideas going on, this feud ended up being a tad bit harder than I initially thought it would be. I enjoyed Thor probably a bit more than the average moviegoer, but it has some problems and it mainly circles around that love story I previously mentioned and a terrible middle act with a budget that clearly was restricting them. Black Panther is far from perfect, but this is a great initial solo film and it got me actually interested in further films to come. But I'm very eager to hear your thoughts below. Leave a comment, vote for your winner, and remember, this is more than just reviews, this is movie feuds. I started a new segment where I turned to Twitter to end these out. You can join the conversation by following me at Adam Does Movies with a stupid underscore because someone owns the Adam Does movies without the underscore. Anyway, let's see what they had to say. Paul tweets, All in all, I feel Black Panther is one of the better MCU movies, but not the best. Good action, relatively good CGI for the most part, great acting, and one of the best MCU villains. Thor has most of these as well, but with less likable characters and forced earth plots. He essentially summed up my seven or eight minute feud in less than five sentences. Great. Johnny Bellow says, Martin Freeman's appearance in Black Panther was more interesting than Natalie Portman's entire two films with hers. Not the best constructed sentence, Johnny, but I get what you're putting down. Natalie Portman was not good in these, although I love her. I do love her. She could have done better. They should have done better with Portman. All right, we're gonna stop there. Thanks for watching. See you next time.