With ‘Black Panther,’ Marvel Studios swoops in with first best picture Oscar nomination

With “Black Panther,” Marvel Studios scored its first Oscar nomination in the coveted category of best picture.

The superhero hit was nominated alongside “BlacKkKlansman,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Favourite,” “Green Book,” “Roma,” “A Star Is Born” and “Vice,” the Motion Picture Academy announced Tuesday morning.

The Wakanda-set blockbuster was also nominated for costume design, sound mixing, sound editing, original score, original song and production design.

Directed by Ryan Coogler, the billion-dollar-grossing “Black Panther” starred Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Daniel Kaluuya, Sterling K. Brown and Winston Duke.

Its phenomenal success is believed to be one of the reasons that the academy momentarily created a “popular film” prize, as the group might have preemptively panicked over the possibility that “Black Panther” might be shut out of the best picture race.

FULL COVERAGE: Oscar nominations 2019 »

Marvel movies — or, rather, superhero-centric releases altogether — aren’t usually associated with the Academy Awards. Before Tuesday’s announcement, the films of Marvel’s cinematic universe had nabbed Oscar nominations 10 times.

Eight Marvel movies have been nominated for visual effects (“Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,” “The Avengers,” “Iron Man 3,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Doctor Strange” and “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2”),” and two more earned additional nods: “Iron Man” (sound editing) and “Guardians of the Galaxy” (makeup and hairstyling).

The extended Marvel universe also nabbed Oscar nominations and wins via Sony’s first “Spider-Man” trilogy and Fox’s “X-Men” franchise. In fact, “Logan” made history in 2018 as the first superhero release to land an Oscar nomination for screenwriting.

2019 Oscar nominations: See the full list »

ashley.lee@latimes.com

Twitter: @cashleelee