Black Panther may be the first superhero movie to have ever been nominated for the best picture Oscar, but there have been some near misses. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman would probably never have existed without Tim Burton’s Batman, and if one squints a little it is just possible to imagine 1985’s Kiss of the Spider Woman as a romantic paean to Marvel’s Jessica Drew, rather than a Brazilian prison drama about a jailed transgender woman and her revolutionary cellmate. Dick Tracy, a comic book flick rather than a superhero one, won three Oscars in 1991, though it is hard to see why.

Black Panther also owes a lot to another Batman movie, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, without which the Oscars might never have expanded the number of best picture nominees from five to 10. How could it be, observers asked at the time, that a movie might have such a radical impact on critics, yet end up garlanded only with nods for the late Heath Ledger’s searing turn as the Joker (best supporting actor) and in a slew of technical categories?

Ryan Coogler’s barnstorming superhero epic about a hidden African nation that boasts outrageous technological superiority over the rest of the world’s nations more than deserves its elevation, as much for its verve, spirit and intellectual bravery as for its landmark delivery of an almost entirely black cast that flourishes within a proudly Afrocentric continuum throughout the movie. Coogler’s smart, politically astute screenplay asks questions of all of us, no matter our skin colour, and the answers it emerges with are deeply human, universal ones.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Searing turn ... Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight. Photograph: Allstar/Warner Bros

Who is the hero of the movie? Michael B Jordan’s Erik Killmonger Stevens, who believes that Wakanda’s power and might should be used to right the wrongs levelled by white western nations against those of African origin? Or Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa, who ultimately favours a more conservative approach to lifting up his fellow man?

The answer depends entirely on one’s point of view. Jordan’s soulful turn as Killmonger, and the movie’s willingness to show us the history behind his hatred, mark Black Panther out as a film in which heroes and villains are far less clearly defined than we might expect from the genre. The usual, simplistic rules of superhero movies are largely thrown out, and that makes it a far more enticing watch.

It is these aspects that make Coogler’s film one that will still be worth watching in 50-years time, and for more than just light entertainment. Marvel has released at least half a dozen movies that are just as exciting to watch in the last couple of years – 2018 alone also gave us the brain-dazzling epic Avengers: Infinity War and the sharp Ant-Man and the Wasp – but it is rare that the studio has delved so deeply and cleverly into such crucial areas of discussion.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Psychedelic stylings ... Tilda Swinton, left, and Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange. Photograph: LMK

Does Black Panther have any chance of taking the prize? Or is its inclusion mere tokenism, no matter how admirable an example? The reality is that it matters little. The chances are that Marvel supremo Kevin Feige will not be making his way to the stage at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles to pick up the best picture award on Oscars night. Very few filmgoers are likely to see Coogler’s movie who have not already seen it – the arthouse brigade would surely have been drawn more naturally to the psychedelic stylings of the studio’s Doctor Strange – but it matters not a jot.

Those of us who love comic book movies can simply be grateful that Hollywood is capable of delivering a superhero film of such thoughtful, daring quality that it can justifiably challenge for the top gong. It has been a while, since the Nolan Batman era in fact, that we have been able to bask in such an agreeable reality.