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“Those are the characters that are the most real. I don’t believe in black and white. Most of the time, it’s people trying to do their best. And I think he’s trying to do his best for America.”

In the Black Panther comics, which were created in the 1960s by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Ross character provides some of the comic relief. But for the film, which stars Chadwick Boseman and is co-written and directed by Ryan Coogler, Freeman wanted a piece of the action.

“I spoke to Kevin Feige in the fall of 2014 about the idea of being in a few films, one of which would be Civil War and a couple of which would involve Black Panther,” the Fargo star says.

Following the world premiere, Freeman spoke about Ross’ importance to the Black Panther universe, not being the “goofy white guy” and what it was like to finally get his big “Han Solo” moment.

Ross was introduced in Civil War, but here he has a bigger role to play with Black Panther and the world of Wakanda. How does your character fit into this story?

He likes T’Challa. He respects him. He just has no idea what he’s dealing with. Geographically, culturally, historically, he has no clue what the ramifications are of [the Wakandan precious metal] vibranium or what that means. He thinks it’s something Klaw has got a hold of and it’s this containable weapon and little does he know that an entire country runs on it.

I like him because he goes through — to use an overused phrase — a journey of discovery of thinking one thing and then having his eyes opened. By the end he’s onboard and he’s on the bench there to help if the Panther needs him.