For Coogler, the movie sees the legacy of Marvel both upended, and not so much. Smoke and Stack may be mobsters, but the characters we meet here are also smooth, magnetic and roguishly principled: super anti heroes. For all the music in the air, no character gets more than one note.

Ryan Coogler has delivered one of the best blockbusters of the year; that it has a heart and brain behind its thrills just makes it that much more satisfying.