With a dazzling, predominantly black cast; a compelling futuristic vision of a mythical African country untouched by colonial predation; a kickass regiment of bald female warriors; gorgeous men shrink-wrapped into panther suits; and a brilliant female scientist carrying the torch for the character Q of the James Bond series, there’s a lot to enjoy in Marvel’s high-adrenaline adventure. (The Black Panther character first appeared in Marvel Comics in July 1966.)
There’s a plot point, however, that is leaving some moviegoers a bit puzzled. In the film, agent Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) is a white CIA operative (spoiler!) whose selfless heroics help the Wakandans save their kingdom. However given the intelligence agency’s checkered history, especially in Africa, the CIA’s star billing and heroic turn in a celebration of black empowerment feels a touch off-key.
The character of Ross debuted in a 1998 Black Panther comic as a bumbling State Department attorney. Christopher Priest, one of the comic’s most influential writers, has stated that Ross, based on the Chandler Bing character from the TV program “Friends,” was enlisted to help bring in white audiences — the primary readers of Marvel comics. Not until the character made the leap to film in “Captain America, Civil War” (2016), was Ross reinvented as a skillful CIA operative.
The agency, as Tricia Jenkins explains in her 2016 book “The CIA in Hollywood,” has a long history of partnering with Tinsel Town, dating back to the 1950s. During the Cold War, movies helped win over foreign audiences, shape U.S. foreign policy and promote a rosy view of American life. The agency would often push for script adjustments, to make the United States look less racially divided.
Before the 1990s, CIA agents in film and on TV were either bad guys (“Three Days of the Condor”) or comical screw-ups (“Get Smart”). That was partly the result of stunning revelations from the Church Committee, a 1975-6 Senate panel chaired by Idaho Sen. Frank Church that investigated abuses by U.S. intelligence agencies. The committee revealed that, among other things, the CIA and FBI had been spying on and harassing American civil rights leaders and anti-war protesters. In response, some Democrats, like Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, went so far as to call for the abolition of the CIA. Congress demanded greater transparency and oversight of its spying operations.
By the end of the Cold War, the agency needed an image makeover. So it hired Chase Brandon, a veteran secret operative, to help it get cozy with filmmakers, actors and producers. CIA agents in the movies soon became heroes working for a highly moral organization desperately needed in the world.