Attendees of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference were in for a surprise. As the name implies, this gathering was an opportunity for African-American politicians, leaders and community members to discuss important policy and issues. First-term Congresswoman Val Demings of Florida put together a panel titled “Imagining a Bigger World—Marvel’s Black Panther, Cultural Heritage and STEM” using her connection at Disney (Disneyworld Orlando being in her district), and lucky for us Marvel fans, the panel included five minutes of the Ryan Coogler film.

Unlucky for us however, is that this footage was exclusive for these attendees. But The Root’s Jason Johnson wrote up his account and impressions of the panel. In attendance were Coogler, Okoye actress Danai Gurira and Marvel Studios producer Nate Moore, amongst a couple other Disney figures.

We won’t copy and paste the entire description from Johnson, but here’s a summary of the highlights:

T’Challa ( Chadwick Boseman ) enters a casino with Nakia ( Lupita Nyong’o ) and Okoye, on the search for Ulysses Klaue ( Andy Serkis ) in a James Bond-looking sequence

) enters a casino with Nakia ( ) and Okoye, on the search for Ulysses Klaue ( ) in a James Bond-looking sequence During this scene, a deal between Klaue and Everett K. Ross ( Martin Freeman ) goes sour, leading to an action sequence that Johnson compares to Coogler’s own Creed and Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman series

) goes sour, leading to an action sequence that Johnson compares to Coogler’s own Creed and Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman series A cool, extended look of that shot of Black Panther on top of the SUV

A battle between T’Challa and Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), again briefly seen in the trailer; Killmonger is said to have a red battle suit similar to that of T’Challa

Coogler mentions in the panel the importance of vibranium in the film’s lore, comparing the precious metal to the real life “Congo’s relationship with the mineral coltan.” Coogler adds that it is his hope that this film will inspire interests both in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and travel to Africa in young black Americans. The panel (sans cool footage) can be seen below.

For us comic book movie fans, the Kingman comparison is likely good news—regardless of your opinion on the content of those movies, the kinetic and free-flowing action is undoubtedly exciting. For refreshers on what (the very excellent, in my own opinion) Creed and Kingsman look like, take a look at the video clips below.

Source: The Root