Ryan Coogler's 'Black Panther' may have been conquered at the box office by the arrival of 'Pacific Rim Uprising' this weekend, but nothing can take away from the fact that it has just been named the highest grossing superhero film of all time in North America. 

Chadwick Boseman at the Film Independent Spirit AwardsChadwick Boseman at the Film Independent Spirit Awards

The Marvel epic surpassed 'The Avengers', which grossed a massive $623.4 million in 2012, when it reached $630.9 million according to Sunday's (March 25th 2018) calculations. It's now the third biggest superhero in the world after 'The Avengers', 'Age of Ultron' and 'Iron Man 3'.

It's also the fifth highest grossing film of all time in North America, and the twelfth globally having already grossed more than $1.2 billion. But, breaking more records, it is the most Tweeted about film of all time and the biggest debut for an African-American director.

Forgetting about numbers, though, 'Black Panther' is probably the most culturally significant superhero film to have ever been released - and perhaps that ever will be. It's a celebration of T'Challa's African heritage, something that has no doubt had an impact on people of colour across the world and helped de-marginalise millions of individuals.

It stars Chadwick Boseman as the King of the nation of Wakanda - a technologically superior country within Africa, whose exact location is unknown. Opposite him are the likes of Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Martin Freeman, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and Andy Serkis.

Marvel's next projects to be released are 'Avengers: Infinity War', 'Deadpool 2', 'Ant-Man and the Wasp', 'Venom' and 'X-Men: Dark Phoenix' - and that's just this year's schedule! Next year will see a sequel to 'Spider Man: Homecoming', 'Captain Marvel' which is set to star Brie Larson and the X-Men spin-off 'The New Mutants'.

More: Watch the trailer for 'Black Panther'

Speaking of X-Men, the character Gambit is about to get his own movie, Wolverine style, with Rupert Wyatt directing and Channing Tatum playing the titular hero.