Angela Bassett Earns Marvel’s First Acting Oscar Nomination for ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’

Angela Bassett has become Marvel’s first-ever performer to be nominated for an Oscar.

via EW:

The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star received her second career nomination from the Academy on Tuesday morning, marking the only time a performance from a Marvel Cinematic Universe title has appeared in any of the Oscars’ four acting categories.

Bassett was nominated for Best Supporting Actress — a prize she’s largely expected to win — for reprising her role as Ramonda, the Queen Mother of Wakanda grieving the loss of her son, the late Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa, in director Ryan Coogler’s blockbuster sequel. She was previously nominated in 1994 for her performance as Tina Turner in What’s Love Got to Do With It?

Though Black Panther: Wakanda Forever didn’t receive a Best Picture nomination like its predecessor did, it still earned five overall nods on nominations morning, including others for Best Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Visual Effects, and for Rihanna’s original soundtrack song “Lift Me Up.”

Marvel films have a long history at the Oscars, often scoring nominations in technical categories. Rival studio DC Films, however, has notched performances in acting categories before. Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix won Oscars for playing the Joker, an iconic Batman franchise villain, in The Dark Knight (2008) and Joker (2019), respectively. Matt Reeves’ latest installment in the DC series, last year’s The Batman, also showed up on the 2023 Oscar nominations in Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Sound, and Best Visual Effects.

If anyone can bring an Oscar to the MCU — it’s Angela. The 95th Academy Awards hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will air Sunday, March 12, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on ABC.