France condemns Marvel’s new Black Panther movie

France’s defence minister has condemned the latest instalment of Marvel’s Black Panther franchise for ‘deceptively’ depicting French troops storming a base in Mali and trying to steal resources belonging to the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda.

Sebastien Lecornu, 36, slammed the anti-French stance of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and paid tribute to his country’s soldiers who died ‘defending Mali’.

‘I strongly condemn this false and deceptive representation of our armed forces,’ Sebastien Lecornu wrote on Twitter in response to a clip from the film – despite it being released three months ago in UK cinemas. 

The clip shows French troops storming a secret Wakandan base in Mali and throwing scientists to the ground as they try to steal vibranium from the Wakandan kingdom. 

The scene then shows the group of bound French soldiers being brought into a UN meeting after they were captured and ordered to kneel in front of Wakandan queen, Ramonda, who calls out the embarrassed French ambassador to the world body. 

The clip shows French troops storming a secret Wakandan base in Mali and throwing scientists to the ground as they try to steal vibranium from the Wakandan kingdom

The clip shows French troops storming a secret Wakandan base in Mali and throwing scientists to the ground as they try to steal vibranium from the Wakandan kingdom

Journalist Jean Bexon, who posted the Black Panther clip, noted, ‘The evil French mercenaries operating in Mali are dressed like soldiers from Operation Barkhane,’ a real-life military mission in the Sahel region. Pictured: French soldiers during the Barkhane operation in northern Burkina Faso on the border with Mali on November 12, 2019 

Journalist Jean Bexon, who posted the Black Panther clip, noted, ‘The evil French mercenaries operating in Mali are dressed like soldiers from Operation Barkhane,’ a real-life military mission in the Sahel region. 

France is particularly sensitive to its image in West Africa after military juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso demanded the departure of French troops, deployed to the Sahel region since 2013 to fight jihadists.

‘I am thinking of and honouring the 58 French soldiers who died defending Mali, at its request, in the face of Islamist terrorist groups,’ Lecornu, France’s youngest cabinet minister, wrote. 

The defence ministry told AFP that France was not calling for withdrawal or censorship of a work of art.

But ‘no revisionism can be allowed about France’s recent actions in Mali: we intervened at the county’s own request to fight armed terrorist groups, far from the story told in the film, namely a French army coming to pillage natural resources,’ the ministry added.

People close to Lecornu said he was ‘angry at seeing the film’, which was released as Russia appears to be making progress in turning West African populations against France and its military deployments.

Mali called on Russia’s Wagner mercenary group to reinforce its army once French troops left – although the junta continues to deny hiring the fighters – and there has been speculation that Burkina may follow suit.

The scene then shows the group of bound French soldiers being brought into a UN meeting after they were captured and ordered to kneel in front of Wakandan queen, Ramonda, who calls out the embarrassed French ambassador to the world body

Online, cartoons spread by pro-Russian accounts and influencers have shown France sending skeletons and a giant snake to ‘conquer all of Africa’, in videos analysed this month by AFP Factcheck.

Armed white men in Wagner combat fatigues are seen coming to the rescue of soldiers carrying the flags of Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.

‘We face a steamroller that plays with the perceptions of local people who are in existential difficulty’ from war and famine, a French military source acknowledged earlier this month.

In November, President Emmanuel Macron stressed that today ‘influence’ is a ‘strategic priority’.