The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu
WITH the release of Avengers Endgame on the horizon, fans last week were outraged to discover that one of the surprise stars of the film, Zimbabwe’s Danai Gurira, did not have her name on the poster advertising a movie that looks set to obliterate Box Office records.
After starring in Black Panther and the first Avengers movie, Gurira has become a fan favourite, winning even the harshest sceptics with her performance as Okoye, the leader of an all-female force in the fictional nation of Wakanda.
However, when a poster of the upcoming film, set to hit theatres on 26 April, Gurira’s name was nowhere to be seen, sparking immediate backlash from fans that thought that she was being intentionally sidelined despite featuring prominently in the poster itself.
In a racially charged America, some fans immediately pointed out that Gurira had been sidelined because she is a black woman in a movie dominated by a predominantly white male cast.
“She should have been up there all this time,” Marvel said in a tweet revealing the updated poster along with the hashtag #WakandaForever.
In the original poster that was unveiled earlier in the day, Gurira was featured, but her name was listed only in the credits at the bottom, which also included the names of cast members who are not pictured such as Benedict Wong, Jon Favreau and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Despite being a late entrant into the star studded world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Gurira has become a much sought after talent, transitioning from small screen star to a legitimate Hollywood star.
