News — Marvel

The “Black Panther” movie has inspired many initiatives to empower African Americans and Blacks in general. Columbus-based entrepreneur Maurice Womack was moved by the Marvel film to co-found with his wife an educational eco-system for black learners called the Wokanda APP.

The platform was launched on February 1 and houses a group of experts who are committed to educating subscribers on topics such as entrepreneurship, finance, health care and other topics through BLCK (Bite-sized Learning & Community Knowledge) Talk. What’s more, the topics will be taught by all Black experts.

“We’re really focused on empowering the Black community,” co-founder Maurice Womack said. “We’re using African American experts to reach the African American community. We’re trying to create a community where you’re learning from people who are recognized experts in their field, who are teachers that look like you. We as a community have a lot to offer each other.”

Aside from providing education to members, the communal platform also seeks to encourage lasting personal and professional relationships. On its website, Wokanda says its “mission is to empower the Black community with knowledge, ideas, and connections to one another.”

“We truly believe in the mantra that ‘Knowledge is Power’ and we are providing a platform to facilitate its distribution. We’re building a library of knowledge from a nation of subject matter experts and a community of learners to engage with each other and information.”

Some of the experts on the platform include Barbara Fant, a poet; James Rose III, an investor; Dawn Carpenter, a finance expert and Tracie Cleveland Thomas, executive director. Others include Evelyn Sullen Smith, an attorney and Joe Moss, an entrepreneur.

“(We’re) really trying to creating a long-term community resource around learning and around the topics that matter to us from leaders around the community who are important to us as experts,” Womack told The Columbus Dispatch.

Explaining the rationale for the name of the platform, Womack said the platform derives its name from the word “woke” and Wakanda, the fictional Africa country of superhero Black Panther.

“If you think of Wakanda, it’s the pinnacle of Black success,” Womack told bizjournal. “It was this idea of working together, being able to empower ourselves with our own knowledge and our own community. I think in one word, it embodies what we’re trying to do.”

Womack said he and his wife started the Wokanda platform after the failure of their STEM education consulting company. The web services interactive platform targeted children in under-resourced areas of science and technology-based coursework.

“People are accustomed to using Zoom now because of the pandemic, so it’s not as hard of a sale,” Womack told The Dispatch. “But these experts happen to be Black people, and they’re teaching culturally responsive topics in a way that’s familiar to us.”

The Wokanda app works through registering and paying up a membership fee which ranges from $14.99 for current students and $19.99 a month for others. Womack said his goal is to reach at least 1,500 registered members before the end of 2021.

Stacy Osei-Kuffour will sprinkle some Black Girl Magic on the all-new ‘Blade’ played by Mahershala Ali as she becomes the first Black female to write a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. Osei-Kuffuor was chosen among a list of other potential Black writers as a hallmark of Marvel’s Phase Four to increase diversity behind the scenes.

Ali, 46, is replacing Wesley Snipes, 58, who had played the sword-wielding half-man, half-vampire hunter in the three franchises; the first in 1998 by New Line Cinema, then in the 2002 sequel and in 2004.

Snipes gave his blessing to the two-time Oscar winner, who was involved in the screening of the writers together with the studio bosses.

“To all the DAYWALKERS losing their minds right now, chillaaxx. Although the news comes as a surprise, it’s ALL GOOD. Such is the ‘business’ of ‘entertainment!’ Much peace to the MCU crew – always a fan. Honor and respect to the grandmaster Stan,” Snipes said.

“Congratulations and Salaam to Mahershala Ali, a beautiful and talented artist whose expressions I look forward to experiencing for many years to come,” he added.

The three films starring Snipes, which were all written by David S. Goyer, grossed about $418 million globally through 2004, according to Variety.

Although no director has been attached to the Blade reboot yet, Ali expressed interest in the role and the Marvel Studio chief Kevin Feige who nursed the reboot of Blade jumped at it when they believed it was time.

“Now with Doctor Strange and the supernatural elements coming into the MCU, it felt like we could definitely start exploring that.

“Mahershala wanted to come in and meet with us, and when Mahershala Ali wants to meet, you take the meeting.”

Osei-Kuffuor, the Watchmen writer, earned a nomination for her script in a Season 1 episode of Hulu’s “Pen15”. She has also worked as a story editor on Amazon’s “Hunters” and HBO’s “Run”. She is now among the Black women making history in MCU. Nia DaCosta was recently selected by Marvel as the first Black woman to direct a Marvel Studios film with “Captain Marvel 2.”

DaCosta has had little stints in the industry but it was the 2019 indie movie “Little Woods,” starring Tessa Thompson, that served as the springboard which fully launched DaCosta’s career. It opened the door for her to direct the new “Candyman” movie produced and co-written by Jordan Peele.

Marvel Studios is known to work with different directors for their movie sequels to bring different perspectives to their movies.