Black Panther:Wakanda Forever

This story has spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Do not read if you plan on watching it.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” had quite the legacy to commemorate. Due to the premature death of Chadwick Boseman in 2020, the production had to rewrite the story so that Letitia Wright’s character, Shuri, would become the Black Panther. 

The movie begins with the death and funeral of Chadwick Boseman’s character T’Challa. The movie then introduces a mysterious new underwater enemy: The Talocans, a secret underwater Mesoamerican-inspired city ruled by the movie’s villain named Namor. Namor is played by a relatively newer actor named Tenoch Huerta. He delivers an astounding performance of a three-dimensional villain much like the first Black Panther that, as well, had a fleshed-out and sympathetic villain character. 

Also introduced in this movie is the legacy hero Ironheart, who is also known as Riri Williams and is played by actress Dominique Thorne. Ironheart will be receiving her own Disney+ television show sometime in the near future, taking place after the events of Wakanda Forever. 

This movie was surprising in the way it handled the various grief shared among the Wakandan royal family in the wake of T’Challa’s death. Queen Ramonda, played by actress Angela Bassett, is now grieving both the death of her husband and her son and is deeply connected to the idea of the spirit realm that was established in the first movie and says that she can feel her husband and son in the breeze. 

The movie takes its’ time to celebrate the life and death of T’Challa, showing us a large celebration and march for his funeral. Then, we see a private service for Shuri and Ramonda to say one final goodbye to their king before his body is sent to be buried.

Overall, the movie does a great job of respecting the death of Chadwick Boseman and filling the role he left in the MCU.