Superhero movies might set the box office on fire, but they could never be an award-winning film, forget being in the race to bag an Oscars in the Best Picture category. But that is exactly what Ryan Coogler-directed Black Panther vying for at the 91st Academy Awards, which will be held on February 24. Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)’s eighteenth instalment not only shattered box office collection records but also cemented its place as one of the finely-crafted films of all time. Based on Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s fictional superhero, Black Panther is the first superhero of African descent in mainstream American comics and the first to get a standalone live-action film. Oscars 2019 Best Picture Winner Predictions: From Black Panther to Bohemian Rhapsody, Who Will Win the Trophy at 91st Academy Awards?

Marvel Studios' head honcho Kevin Feige’s 2018 film, Black Panther, became the first superhero film to earn an Oscar nomination in the Best Picture category. While its winning chances look slim, Feige says Black Panther's Oscar nominations could open the door for more superhero movies. In fact, Black Panther has a total of seven nominations including Best Original Score, Best Original Song and Best Costume Design. The other films with multiple nominations are The Favourite and Roma with 10 nominations each, and A Star Is Born and Vice with eight. Oscars 2019 Full Nominations List in PDF: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Picture & More Category-Wise Nominees at 91st Academy Awards.

Black Panther aka T'Challa is the King of a fictional African nation, Wakanda. He ascended the throne after his father T'Chaka died in a dastardly terror attack, and so did the mantle of Black Panther pass to him. We first saw Black Panther portrayed by Chad Boseman in MCU’s 2016 film Captain America: Civil War. Two years later, Black Panther had a full-length feature film, with a predominantly black cast - Michael B. Jordan as N'Jadaka / Erik "Killmonger" Stevens, Lupita Nyong'o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Letitia Wright as Shuri, Winston Duke as M'Baku, Daniel Kaluuya as W'Kabi, among others.

Watch the Trailer of Black Panther Here:

There is no doubt over the popularity of Black Panther. It’s box office figures of $1.347 billion has made it the 9th-highest-grossing film of all time. But is it ‘award-worthy’? The answer is a little dicey. For long the commercially successful films, especially when that happens to be a superhero flick, the chances of it landing an Oscar diminishes. Though we have seen box office winners such as Forrest Gump ($677.9 million) win six Academy Awards including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Titanic ($2.2 billion) win a staggering 11 Oscars including for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. So, one cannot entirely rule out the possibility of Black Panther winning it big on the awards night.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 24, 2019 12:27 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).