Black Panther (2018), dir Ryan Coogler

relationships to parents is actually pretty low in Marvel (far more a thing for DC): only Guardians of the Galaxy and to an extent Thor have it in their origin stories.

source of power / iconic abilities are obviously necessary parts - we need to know that Tony Stark will die if the reactor in his heart is off for too long, and that he can't summon a magic hammer (okay okay, technology is frequently treated as magic)

Point taken though that 2/3 of this happens in another film entirely.

I'm not quite sure what to make of the idea that Wakanda has no internal history - it runs from the very first scene, including the history of Klaw.

(also please stop saying mythical / archetypal - Joseph Campbell is happily rotting in his grave)

(i don't mean it in that sense, but it's not as if talking about that dimension of a narrative is something he invented or that died with him. it's about making sense of the core metaphors tied up in the fact, in-movie, that the characters are more(-powerful)-than-human - which most of these do with some kind of logic of transformation and control. i don't see how you don't have to do it sooner or later with superhero universe movies, just to identify the core interest. otherwise they're all just a lot of spectacular junk.)

otherwise they're all just a lot of spectacular junk

https://www.macleans.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Bloom-County-Complete-Library-Vol.-6-278.png

i'm surprised people are talking about this as a best picture contender,

important to bear in mind that film quality is totally irrelevant to a best picture nomination/award, which is more about the industry collectively and publicly affirming the values it likes to think it holds

personally while I'm glad this movie got made and was popular, I fell asleep and couldn't finish it

Only complaint I had was that I know what Forest Whitaker looked like in 1992, and it damn sure wasn't like Denzel Whitaker.

Who is.. no relation?

None at all!