Though Black Panther has undoubtedly earned its status as the world’s biggest movie – word is the Afrocentric adventure is heading for another record-breaking weekend at the domestic box office – some viewers were concerned that the film’s post-credits scenes highlighted a continuity issue within the MCU.
Turns out that’s not the case, though, as ComicBook.com has relayed a tile from the recently-released Infinity War prelude comic that confirms Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes visited Wakanda “weeks” after the fallout of Captain America: Civil War, when Chris Evans’ star-spangled hero eventually freed his fellow heroes from the confines of the Raft.
Via CB:
Short and sweet, then. According to the Infinity War prelude comic, Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes meet with T’Challa “weeks” after the events of Civil War, by which point the man formerly known as the Winder Soldier was ready to be placed on ice.
It’s for this reason that Sebastian Stan’s wounded anti-hero didn’t feature in Black Panther whatsoever – save for that aforementioned post-credits scene – as Ryan Coogler felt that his presence would have detracted from T’Challa’s adventure.
But Bucky would have horrible PTSD, he would need spiritual guidance. The last thing he would need to do is jump into that Civil War, and so that was kind of the thought process there. And it could be potentially problematic if it’s a bunch of Africans fighting and you bring in a White dude, he comes in shootin’ people (laughs). We were aware of that. Bucky’s not trained to neutralize people peacefully, he’s an assassin. We were like, ‘I don’t know if we can do that…’” (laughs).
In light of its record-smashing debut, Black Panther is poised to become only the fourth movie to earn $100 million-plus in its second weekend – joining an exclusive club comprised of The Force Awakens, Jurassic World and The Avengers. Early estimates indicate that Panther is expected to collect around $120 million in North America over the next few days, which would bring its domestic total above the $400 million threshold.