In November, I saw Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in theaters, four years after the original movie came out. I have to say, I was taken aback by how emotional it left me. Over the past year, my expectations going into any new Marvel movie have been uncharacteristically low, but with the slump that the wildly popular superhero-based production company has been in, it’s only natural that my excitement has died down quite a lot since my peak of obsession from 2013-2019. However, Wakanda Forever has been the first Marvel project in a long time to remind me why I love these movies so much and why they defined so much of my childhood so consistently.
Considering the entire original script of this film had to be scrapped following its lead actor Chadwick Boseman losing his long-standing battle with stage III colon cancer in 2020, it is an incredibly patient and beautiful movie that holds the same elements of excitement, action, and representation as its predecessor. Immediately after Boseman’s death, there were conversations led by Marvel president Kevin Fiege about possibly recasting the late actor. These were ultimately put to rest simply because of how important Boseman was to the portrayal of this character that meant so much to so many people, specifically the black community at large. It was decided in early rewrites of the film’s main storyline that the role of the Black Panther would not be recast with respect to Chadwick Boseman and his work, but would instead have the mantle be passed on to a different character.
My favorite part of this second Black Panther film is the way it emanated the love and grief that both the cast and the entire world felt when Boseman passed in 2020, a feeling that remains to this day anytime his work and life are celebrated. In having Boseman’s character T’Challa pass away along with the actor at the beginning of the film, it is clear from then on that this is a new kind of story we are watching unfold. Grief has always been a topic explored in the MCU, as the funerals of beloved comic book characters are not scarce in this universe, especially as of late. However, there was a different and more painful reality surrounding the grief explored in Black Panther 2, and I could tell that almost everyone in the theater could feel the weight of the loss of both T’Challa, the Black Panther, and Chadwick Boseman.
The person most deserving of the applause for the delicate, yet celebratory way the entire situation surrounding the film’s production was handled is writer and director, Ryan Coogler. As the world and Boseman’s family, friends, and colleagues at Marvel processed his death, Coogler found the most perfect way to pour all of that emotion into the story that he wanted to continue to tell about the fictional African nation of Wakanda. There was an intensely relatable and human experience applied to Wakanda Forever surrounding grief and loss, as the actors’ performances were incredibly raw and obviously drawn from their own feelings of loss. Most notably, the performance of Letitia Wright – who played T’Challa’s quick-witted and sarcastic sister Shuri in the original movie – was the main source of my tears in the theater. As Shuri steps up to take over the mantle and responsibilities and duties of embodying the Black Panther from her late brother, it was evident that this was a mirror of Letitia’s experience taking over this leading role from Boseman, whom she states was like an older brother to her as well. The entire motif of loss in the new film felt so much deeper and more painful due to the fact that true pain and grief could be seen in the eyes of every cast member who knew Chadwick Boseman and worked alongside him.
Even actors who were new to the cast of the second movie such as the Mexican-native newcomer Tenoch Huerta mentioned in a round table interview for Entertainment Weekly that Boseman’s presence was so evidently felt during the filmmaking process of Wakanda Forever. On the rewarding feeling of finally having racial and ethnic representation in popular media like Marvel Studios, Huerta stated:
“I never met Chadwick, but being a part of that tribute is an extraordinary experience and an extraordinary honor because it was so meaningful for all of us in Latin America. It was the same meaning for all of us of saying ‘We are there! We are finally part of that!’” (Huerta, 2022).
To me, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is exactly what Huerta described it as– a tribute. It is felt in the actors’ performances, the storytelling and writing, and the overall theme of the film. I think it is genuinely moving how people can take so much grief and sadness and channel it into creating a story with ten times as much weight and beauty than it could have ever had if Chadwick Boseman’s death had simply been ignored and his character recast with another actor. The long-standing royal themes of lifelong duty and responsibility in the face of prejudice and oppression hang even heavier than usual over Wakanda Forever, as its main figurehead is no longer with us to tell the story for all of the young kids who idealize this kind of representation that they never had before him. Though the mantle has been passed on, it is my strong opinion that these themes of change in modern media and society that Boseman spearheaded remain with the MCU, just as he does in spirit and in presence through the beautiful stories of Wakanda and the Black Panther.