This morning, the 2023 Academy Award nominations were officially announced. The nominations celebrate some of the best work that the film industry had to offer in the past year. Among the nominees was one history-maker, Angela Bassett has become the first performer nominated for a movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever!
Bassett was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and fans couldn’t be happier. If there was any performance in the MCU that had audiences and critics alike singing their praises, it was Bassett’s. From even the first trailers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever fans were admiring Bassett’s performance and the final product did not disappoint. Her performance in the film also recently earned her a BAFTA nomination and won her a Critics Choice Award and a Golden Globe.
This is actually the actress’ second Academy Award nomination. She was first nominated for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in the Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do with It. Bassett is also known for her performances in acclaimed films like Contact and Malcolm X. She is also beloved for her roles in hit series like American Horror Story and 9-1-1. Her more recent roles include Wendell & Wild, Gunpowder Milkshake, and Soul.
Part of what makes Bassett’s performance in the film so moving and powerful is knowing the real-life story behind it. After the original Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman tragically passed away in 2020, the sequel was reworked to be a loving tribute to the actor. Bassett used her very real emotions and grief to give a performance that hardly left a dry eye in the theater. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was directed by Ryan Coogler off a script he wrote with Joe Robert Cole.
While the MCU has received various Academy Award nominations on the technical side, this is the first acting one, marking a huge milestone. It also marks the Black Panther series within the MCU as the most successful. The original Black Panther is so far the only film in the franchise to actually win at the awards show, winning Best Score, Costume Design, and Production Design in 2019.
You can watch Bassett’s moving performance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever when it becomes available to stream on Disney+ on February 1. Check out the film’s trailer below:
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