The highly anticipated sequel to Marvel’s 2018 film “Black Panther”, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” finally hits theaters November 11th. After raking in over $1.3 billion in the box offices and dropping a soundtrack packed with artists like Kendrick Lamar, SZA and more, the original film made history as more than just a Marvel film. However, after the movie’s star, Chadwick Boseman’s tragic death in 2020 fans were left heartbroken and anxious to see how Marvel would continue with Wakanda’s story line.
lagos movie premiere
At long last the wait is over. Marvel held a historic premiere for the film in Lagos, Nigeria, making it “the first time Marvel has held a premiere locally” according to Deadline. The film runs for two hours and 41 minutes, making it the second longest Marvel film in the MCU just after “Endgame” which ran for three hours and two minutes. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” has a soundtrack that even features a song from Grammy award winner Rhianna. Ryan Coogler and Nate Moore, the film’s director and producer, were in attendance along with many of the film’s stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira and more. Letitia Wright wore a black suit with a crystal harness in honor of late actor Chadwick Boseman’s look at the Academy Awards in 2018. Safe to say that his presence and influence continues to live with the cast and will surely carry through in the film as well.
chadwick boseman’s career
Late actor Chadwick Boseman’s career spanned over two decades. He starred in powerful films such as “42”, where he plays Jackie Robinson as he fights to integrate the Dodgers back in 1946, 2017’s “Marshall”, where he played NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall, as well as “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, where he starred side by side with Viola Davis in 2020, one of his last films. With two screen actors Guild Awards, a Golden Globe, Critics Choice for Best Actor and an Emmy and more, Boseman’s work did not go unrecognized. After his passing, Kevin Feige and “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler stated that they would not recast the role of T’Challa. Instead, they decided to honor his memory in the MCU by continuing the story with the nation’s coping following the passing of the King of Wakanda, a reflection of the coping the actors themselves went through after losing Boseman.
Disney plus series
Finally, there has been talk for years now about a potential Disney Plus show following the nation of Wakanda and it appears as though more official information has recently come to light. According to Variety, a television series has been confirmed by Coogler as he said “Working with them on ‘Black Panther’ was a dream come true”. As avid consumers of television, we couldn’t be happier to be launching our television business with Bob Iger, Dana Walden and all the amazing studios under the Disney umbrella”. The series will center around the nation of Wakanda and is rumored to follow Okoye’s origin story as the Dora Milje’s leader. There are also rumors that “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” will directly lead into one of Marvel’s upcoming Disney Plus series “Ironheart” which is set to release Fall of 2023. Regardless of what happens, fans will be getting plenty of Marvel content in the coming years and are excited to see the continuation of Boseman’s legacy as the first Black Panther.