by A French military commander has taken issue with Marvel Studios for portraying his nation’s soldiers in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in a “false and dishonest” manner.
With Wakanda and Talokan at war with one another and the rest of the world still after vibranium, Black Panther 2 provided the MCU’s most in-depth look at global politics to yet.
The two main nations at odds are made up by Marvel, as the MCU has done numerous times before, yet some aspects of Wakanda Forever have some resemblance to actual historical events.
For instance, in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Black Widow exposed SHIELD’s snooping on common people by leaking top-secret data to the public. Those incidents closely resemble Edward Snowden’s actual disclosure of NSA materials, which revealed the spy agency was snooping on citizens.
Similar techniques have been employed by Disney in other projects to provide commentary on real-world dynamics. The Disney+ series Andor functions in many respects as a critique of the world under the former US President Donald Trump, but it does so in the Star Wars galaxy far, far away.
France criticises the “False Representation” in Black Panther 2
Sébastien Lecornu, Minister of the Armed Forces of France, uploaded a scene from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever that included French soldiers to denounce Marvel Studios’ “false” portrayal of his country’s military.
The sequence in question occurs early on in the movie, when the Dora Milaje pull tied French military soldiers into a UN meeting after they failed to steal Wakanda’s vibranium.
Lecornu described the portrayal as “false and dishonest” in English and added his tribute to the French soldiers who lost their lives protecting Mali in West Africa:
“I strongly condemn this false and deceptive representation of our armed forces. I am thinking of and honouring the 58 French soldiers who died defending Mali, at its request, in the face of Islamist terrorist groups.”
The outfits worn by the French soldiers in Black Panther 2 are strikingly similar to those worn during the actual Operation Barkhane, as noted by journalist Jean Bexon, who also served as the original poster of the footage.
The military operation in question was France’s eight-year conflict with Islamic terrorist organisations in Africa’s Sahel region, which cost 53 French lives.
Due to France’s challenges collaborating with the Sahel region’s governments, Operation Barkhane was terminated in November 2022. Military authorities in Mali and Burkina Faso had already sought France’s departure.
The French defence ministry informed AFP that while the country does not intend to ban art, “no revisionism can be allowed” in regards to the country’s military operations in Mali:
“No revisionism can be allowed about France’s recent actions in Mali: we intervened at the county’s own request to fight armed terrorist groups, far from the story told in the film, namely a French army coming to pillage natural resources.”
The defence minister was reportedly “mad at seeing the film” and how it represented the French military, according to sources close to Lecornu.
It’s not yet known if Marvel Studios or the Black Panther 2 team will respond to the French defence minister’s remarks.
You can watch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever right now on Disney+.
