Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Four years after the first record-breaking installment and two years following lead actor Chadwick Boseman’s death, the Marvel Cinematic Universe will finally be releasing the much-anticipated sequel to the Black Panther movie franchise. If it seems like a weird combination of events, it is. If you don’t know how to feel about it, join the club.
Black Panther, released in 2018, was the first Marvel movie to star an almost entirely Black lead cast and was directed by Marvel’s first Black director, Ryan Coogler. Reaching critical acclaim, scoring a near-impossible 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, and being one of my personal favorite Marvel movies, fans (myself included!) couldn’t wait to have a sequel. However, a second installment with the lead character of T’Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman, wasn’t in the cards. Unknown to the public, Boseman had been diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in 2016, two years before Black Panther was released in theaters. In the fall of 2020, the truth came out, but not in the best of circumstances. A major shock to the public, it was announced that Boseman had died of colon cancer — a condition no one knew had had except for those closest to the actor.
Chadwick, not only known for playing the role of T’Challa, had received renown for playing roles such as James Brown, Jackie Robinson, and Thurgood Marshall, just to name a few. With his death came a script overhaul of Black Panther 2 and a considerable delay in the release. Because of Chadwick Boseman’s influence, the decision to keep producing a Black Panther sequel faced a lot of backlash from the public. After lots of controversy, director Ryan Coogler decided not to recast the role of T’Challa. However, this just generated more argument, as Boseman’s family publicly came forward with the opinion that the character of T’Challa should be recast, stating that the superhero still had the ability to inspire Black fans and the role was much bigger than Chadwick alone. Sparking a change.org petition that garnered over 62,000 signatures and the hashtag “#RecastTChalla,” people were truly able to see how much of an impact Boseman and Black Panther made to fans. Throwing the addition of COVID-19 into the mix, Marvel Studios had to push through in order to deliver a sequel that not only honored T’Challa’s death, but advanced the Black Panther storyline.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, already in the limelight, has to deliver on both fronts in order to appease followers from both crowds of the Black Panther debate. The movie is rumored to focus on Shuri, T’Challa’s younger sister, and her great burden of leading Wakanda through the loss of their beloved leader . . . And you can guess that things won’t go to plan (it’s a superhero movie, for goodness’ sakes — does anything ever go to plan?). The movie is also supposed to bring in Indigenous and Latin American characters, which should make for one of the most diverse Marvel movies yet.
Regardless of your stance on Black Panther’s second installment, I hope that you will appreciate the alleged topics of loss and grieving in this movie. Superheroes are supposed to always be strong, always know exactly what to do at the just right time, and always be perfect in the public eye. So, I’m hopeful that seeing this side of a superhero’s life will be a refreshing step in a mostly uncharted area for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be showing in theaters starting on Nov 11, 2022.