Black Panther

While the character has been around since 1966, the current cultural footprint of Black Panther began in earnest in 2016. Ta-Nehisi Coats and Brian Stelfreze took over writing and art duties for the comics, and Chadwick Boseman kicks the doors in and announced his presence in Captain America: Civil War. The stage was set for 2018's Black Panther to be world-shiftingly awesome, and boy, was it. Black Panther ruled so hard the CIA took to Twitter to “de-bunk” it. Making a great superhero movie is a worthwhile goal in its own right, making the CIA sweat while you do it is [chef's kiss].

Then, of course, tragedy struck with Boseman's untimely death. Wesley Snipes, who was slated to play Black Panther in the 90s. Oh how differently our world would look with a Wesley Snipes Black Panther movie.