Chadwick Boseman was surprised that a studio was willing to put money into ‘Black Panther’.

The film -which brings to life the story of the first superhero of African descent to appear in mainstream American comics – has been considered a significant cultural milestone but Chadwick admitted he was initially surprised that the Marvel movie got support from a major motion picture studio.

He said: “I never thought I would see a studio say, ‘Yeah, we are going to put the money behind this movie with a mostly black cast.’ Sometimes, as African-Americans, we have the ‘black version’ and it’s never as good. They never put as much into it and so it made me more idealistic and I think that’s aspirational for not just myself, but for other people, and not just film but in other arenas.”

And Chadwick insisted that the superhero aspect of the movie was never the most important part.

Speaking during the Hollywood Reporter’s Actor’s Roundtable discussion, he said: “We wanted to make a superhero movie but that’s not the most important thing here. People will love the superhero movie if they get this other thing from it.”

Chadwick, 41, actor stars as T’Challa, heir to the hidden but advanced kingdom of Wakanda who must step forward to lead his people into a new future, in the superhero smash hit, which was recently nominated for three Golden Globe Awards.

The film – which earned $1.3 billion worldwide – was nominated for Best Motion Picture, Best Original Score and Best Original Song at the 2019 Golden Globes.

The acclaimed film – which is directed by Ryan Coogler – is already the third-highest-grossing movie of all time in the US, behind ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ and ‘Avatar.’

Now it is also one of the rare superhero movies to have earned a Golden Globes nomination.