The new Black Panther movie, the latest Marvel superhero origin story movie, manages to create not only a new cast of characters, with intriguing super-abilities and characteristics, but also an entire civilization and culture. As such, it’s an extraordinary achievement, an astonishing triumph of story-telling imagination, cultural anthropology, and design. It’s also a marvelously entertaining piece of popular entertainment. While it has all the plot devices and narrative memes of any superhero movie, the world it creates is so compelling that those oh-so-familiar devices felt fresh and new.

Its greatest creation is Wakanda, the fictional African nation where most of the the action is set. Wakanda, we’re told, was singularly blessed by an asteroid, which crashed to the earth in central Africa, and left behind a rich supply of vibranium, an astonishingly useful extraterrestrial metal. This metal enabled Wakanda, alone among its neighbors, to shortcut past the Guns Germs and Steel process of cultural development, in which a region fortunate enough to have domesticable plants and animals native to it has therefore a sufficient food supply to form cities, complex political structures and eventually, technology. We’re told that, sometime in the past, five warring tribes, each with its own culture and (presumably) language, were blessed by the Gods, joined forces, pooling their efforts and resources, though one, a mountain tribe, seems to have remained pretty much apart from the other four. Vibranium petals enabled a king, chosen from the five tribes, to attain superhuman powers. Vibranium itself was sufficiently flexible to revolutionize transportation, medical knowledge and communication. But the Wakandans seem jealous of their bounty, and they create faux villages of sheep herders for prying international eyes. Their bustling cities are hidden underground. And their foreign policy seems to be to keep vibranium out of the hands of other nations, with a world-wide network of spies looking for stolen samples, killing, if necessary, to get the stuff back when it’s stolen.

The design elements of this film are, therefore, spectacular, a rich tapestry of African costumes and makeup and tech. Props to Director Ryan Coogler’s superb all-female designers: costume designer Ruth E. Carter, cinematographer Rachel Morrison, production designer Hannah Beachler.

I especially loved the Wakandan communicators. Little earth-colored holograms; so cool.

Back to the plot. The former Wakandan King/Black Panther has passed on, and the film begins with something of a succession crisis. T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), son of the previous king, is presumed the heir, but his advancement is challenged by M’Baku (Winston Duke), from the reclusive mountain tribe. The custom is for the two of them to engage in one-on-one combat, in a pool formed half-way up a cliff face. (Again, just awesome, a fight scene knee-deep in water).  T’Challa lives, but spares M’Baku’s life. But later, his cousin, Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), unknown to the rest of the Wakandans, having been raised in America}, is of sufficient royal blood to challenge, and defeat T’Challa. Killmonger is the putative villain of the piece, and T’Challa the ostensible hero, but in fact, Killmonger’s vision for his people is reasonably similar to policies T’Challa’s best friend, W’Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya) has been urging him to pursue.

And yes, it all plays out the way we expect it to. It’s a superhero movie, which means a final battle scene between Good and Evil, with lots of other combatants, including, in this case, battle rhinos. (CGI, of course, but what a nice touch). But the film seems so much richer than that. In part, it’s because Killmonger is such an extraordinary villain. Or “villain?” I’m still not sure he’s all that wrong, or all that unjustified. Certainly Jordan’s performance is extraordinary. Yes, he’s pure rage. But he’s an American, raised with all the disadvantages and indignities reflective of the black experience in America. And he’s worked for the US government as an assassin, and has traveled the world, seen the injustices done to people of color everywhere. And he knows that his native country, the land of his origin, has at its disposal the most astonishing technological wherewithal to, maybe, solve everything. At least he thinks it might, and he’s a highly intelligent, experienced and motivated man. Why does Wakanda hide? Why does Wakanda not engage with the world? Did all the previous Black Panthers, basically, chicken out in the fight for world-wide social justice? And can T’Challa do better? Does he even intend to? Which of these two guys should really be king, master of vibranium? Which should be Black Panther? The angry one, who has seen the world? Or the uncertain one, who has seen a few streets in Korea?

It’s a wonderful opportunity to see six of the best male actors working in film right now give amazing performances. Daniel Kaluuya turns W’Kabi into a deeply conflicted, deeply committed character. Winston Duke gives M’Baku a comic turn just when the film needs them. Sterling K. Brown brings his characteristic passion and power to N’Jobu, Killmonger’s father. Forest Whitaker is marvelous as Zuri, a priest. And Jordan and Boseman carry the film. Six extraordinary black actors at the center of a rich and powerful film.

And the women. it’s also wonderful to see some of the best female actors working. Oh, my gosh, the women.  Because Wakanda is also a nation of powerful, brilliant, charismatic women. Angela Bassett is Ramonda, T’Challa’s deeply conflicted but powerful Mom. Danai Gurira plays Okoye, captain of the king’s guard, and a kick-ass warrior. Her spear work is unsurpassed. Lupita Nyong’o is equally intrepid as Nakia, T’Challa’s fierce companion, who never once stops challenging him. And Letitia Wright is amazing as T’Challa’s brilliant scientist sister, Shuri. Again, it’s a superhero movie in which the women are as interesting, powerful and dimensional as the men, and it stars a half-dozen astonishing black actresses. It doesn’t just pass the Bechdel test, it obliterates it.

Also this: Why is Chadwick Boseman not a bigger star? I know why, but it makes no sense to me. Look who he’s played. Jackie Robinson, in 42.  James Brown, in Get On Up. Thurgood Marshall, in Marshall. You could say they’re not great movies, but they’re darn good ones, and in them, he played rich, multi-textured, fascinating people. It’s not just that Jackie Robinson was important. It’s that he was interesting. And Boseman gave, in each instance, nuanced and textured performances of amazingly charismatic people. Black Panther may launch him, but heck, playing Jackie Robinson should have launched him. He’s a terrific actor, exciting to watch, subtle and fascinating. Jordan’s performance may initially feel more compelling, because his character’s so single-minded in his objectives. But Boseman’s quieter characterization is what I couldn’t keep my eyes away from.

Oh, and Martin Freeman’s in it too. Fine actor, does a nice job, but I couldn’t have cared less about his character and the situations from which he had to extricate himself. The other Tolkien white guy in the movie, Andy Serkis, as Klaue, fared better; flamboyant enough to be memorable, and with a character arc sufficiently short so as not to distract from the various Wakanda story-lines that were so much more interesting.

Quibbles? A few. The richest creation in the movie is Wakanda itself, the place, the mythology and culture. But it seemed strange to me that, politically, they’d still be a kingdom. A hereditary strong man (literally; their king has superpowers) leadership model struck me as almost Habsburgian. And, sadly, kind of African. Strong men dictators have been the plague of that entire continent, from Savimbi to Mugabe to Amin to Sisi to so many others. Wakanda hadn’t figured out how to transition to a democracy? Shuri and Nakia weren’t pressuring T’Challa to go that direction? And I couldn’t get my head around Wakandan economics. I get their tech explosion; they’ve got vibranium. But they don’t trade it, they don’t exploit it (except internally). How did Wakanda get rich with no foreign trade? Sheep?

Still, it’s a superhero movie, an adapted comic book. I get that you can’t do everything, answer every question, in a two hour popcorn movie. What’s astonishing is just how rich the culture they create ends up being, given the kind of movie it is. And also, how good it is at the most basic, fundamental task of any action movie; be exciting. It was edge of the seat action, and that’s rare for me to get that into it in these things.

We’ve all seen tons of superhero movies, and are weary unto death of the plot conventions. If I never see another big building destroyed when supervillains toss superheros into them again, it will be much too soon. (And that never happens once in this one. Yay!) Black Panther transcended those conventions, kept the familiar less familiar, made it new and interesting. All by itself, that’s an amazing achievement for director Ryan Coogler (who also made the best Rocky movie ever, with Creed). But to also manage a triumph of imagination and research like the world of Wakanda? Well, that’s just amazing. It’s going to make buckets of money, and deserves every nickel. Interesting, isn’t it, how the two best superhero movies ever, Wonder Woman and Black Panther, came out within a year or two? Just as America elected a racist sexual predator as President. We have to fight back somehow; why not using vibranium?