Michelle Obama Praises ‘Black Panther’ for Inspiring ‘People of All Backgrounds’

First lady Michelle Obama speaks to the next generation at the Celebrating Innovations in
AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Former First Lady Michelle Obama took to Twitter on Monday to offer her feelings on the Marvel Studios worldwide blockbuster Black Panther. 

“Congrats to the entire #blackpanther team. Because of you, young people will finally see superheroes that look like them on the big screen,” Obama wrote of the Ryan Coogler-directed superhero movie that’s currently smashing one box office record after another.

“Because of you, young people will finally see superheroes that look like them on the big screen,” Obama wrote of the film, which features an all-star cast of some of Hollywood’s most celebrated black talent, including Chadwick Boseman Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Sterling K. Brown, Angela Bassett, and Forest Whitaker.

“I loved this movie and I know it will inspire people of all backgrounds to dig deep and find the courage to be heroes of their own stories,” concluded Obama, who rarely shares a nonpolitical message on Twitter.

The film follows T’Challa/Black Panther (Boseman) reign as the new king of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, an isolated, technologically advanced nation at risk of being taken over by one of its own.

Black Panther is headed to a projected $235 million-plus for the four-day holiday weekend, and north of $400 million worldwide over the same period.

A black activist group called the Electoral Justice Project launched a nationwide initiative called #WakandaTheVote over the weekend aimed at ramping up black voter registration. The group used several screenings of Marvel’s Black Panther to host its voter registration drive.

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson

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