Wesley Snipes' BLACK PANTHER Project From The 90s Would've Featured The Civil Rights Movement

The 90s were a weird time for Marvel, and Wesley Snipes' latest story about a pitch for a Black Panther film back then might be the strongest evidence of that. The actor told THR a bit of what director John Singleton had in mind for a script back when the project was pitched in the 90s, and it was a very different film than what we'll soon see in theaters. Snipes, who was at the peak of his career at this point, wanted the film to be closer to what the comics portrayed, but Singleton didn't think audiences were interested in a technologically advanced Wakanda. Instead, he wanted the civil rights movement front and center, and T'Challa to not grow up in Wakanda:

“John was like, ‘Nah! Hah! Hah! See, he’s got the spirit of the Black Panther, but he is trying to get his son to join the [civil rights activist] organization. And he and his son have a problem, and they have some strife because he is trying to be politically correct and his son wants to be a knucklehead.’ “

I am loosely paraphrasing our conversation. But ultimately, John wanted to take the character and put him in the civil rights movement. And I’m like, ‘Dude! Where’s the toys?! They are highly technically advanced, and it will be fantastic to see Africa in this light opposed to how Africa is typically portrayed.’ I wanted to see the glory and the beautiful Africa. The jewel Africa.”

Snipes said he still loves John Singleton to this day and has a great respect for him, but he's relieved that film was never made. I agree with Snipes, although I'm sure even if it had, Marvel still would've been able to recover with a more faithful property down the line. After all, they recovered from the Daredevil film and Dolph Lundgren's Punisher...so I think they can recover from just about anything.