Chadwick Boseman’s death in 2020 was a tragic shock to us all. Boseman was a charismatic star, one who helped elevate 2018’s Black Panther to insane heights. But above all that, he was a good person. I don’t have the words to fully eulogize him here, but his death was a huge loss on so many levels. The persona levels obviously take precedence, but his passing left huge question marks for the Black Panther franchise moving forward. By all accounts, Boseman was set to be a central figure in the MCU for many years, and movies, to come. So where would the studio go from there? Recast T’Challa and carry on with business as usual? Kill off the character in the movies and move forward from that point? It put everyone involved in an unenviable position.
Ultimately, the decision was made not to recast T’Challa. While some fans complained that losing completely losing the character would be a detriment to the MCU as a whole, it was the right decision. Boseman had already become synonymous with the Black Panther character. The best way to describe a potential recasting is, simply, weird. It wouldn’t have felt right. But that left another gap to fill in for the sequel that nobody had planned for: how to honor Boseman and T’Challa while still making a movie and telling a story that propels the Black Panther franchise forward, as well as the rest of the MCU.
I can’t even imagine what the creative process must have been like for Wakanda Forever. Just putting together a mostly competent movie would have been impressive. But returning writer-director Ryan Coogler did more than that. He made a great superhero movie that also serves as a beautiful, emotional tribute to both his friend and the beloved character of T’Challa.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens with T’Challa’s death, serving as a clear memorial for the real-life man and the fictional hero. It’s an effective double gut-punch, as the audience says goodbye to an already-iconic character and (again) to Boseman himself. It sets an emotional tone that looms large over the rest of the movie.
The movie jumps to a year later, where we meet up with unnamed, shadowy government types who have located a store of vibranium deep in the ocean. This is a huge development as, up until now, Wakanda was thought to be the sole source of vibranium. This discovery leads to the revelation of the ancient water civilization Talokan. Talokan’s leader, Namor (MCU newcomer Tenoch Huerta) travels to Wakanda to propose an alliance to Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright). Namor sees similarities between the two secluded nations, and wants Wakanda to help protect his people, and even their existence. The plan involves finding the American scientist who created the machine that allowed the US to find the vibranium in the first place.
Ramonda, Shuri, and the rest of Wakanda’s leaders seem open to the idea, until they discover the scientist is 19 year old MIT student Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne). Shuri and Ramonda hope that Namor will agree to a peaceful resolution, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. In his eyes, if Riri remains alive, he will have no choice but stage an attack on the “surface world,” before they come after Talokan for their vibranium. And if it comes to that, Wakanda is his first target, unless they decide to agree to the alliance. This back and forth is the driving force behind the main plot of Wakanda Forever.
With Namor, like Killmonger before him, Coogler gives fans another excellent villain. Because he’s less a pure villain and more a conflicted antagonist. You can clearly see his point of view. His home and his people are being threatened; they didn’t do anything to bring this upon themselves. As far as they’re concerned, the US – and any other potential invading forces – started this. And he has a point. But similar to Killmonger, it’s the methods Namor chooses that make him the villain of the story. And it makes him quite the compelling character. You have no reason to root against him, other than the fact that he poses a threat to Wakanda.
The story takes a little bit to get going early on, as it feels like it jumps from scene to scene, rather than flowing cohesively. But once it settles in, that problem goes away. And it’s a great story. It has all the usual superhero trappings. But Wakanda Forever is more than a superhero movie. It might seem crass to say, but it uses T’Challa’s death extremely effectively. It allows the movie to reach an emotional level not many other movies of the genre are able to. It’s not necessarily a dark movie, like The Batman from earlier this year. But it’s certainly a heavy movie, showing characters dealing with grief and trauma in very real ways.
No character is that more present with than Shuri. She was the spunky, jokey younger sister in Black Panther. But she’s hardened now, shouldering a vendetta against the world. And Letitia Wright is nothing short of phenomenal. The whole cast is great, but she is easily one of the standouts. I was much more interested in the emotional journeys of the various characters than any of the usual superhero stuff. And that’s not a slight on those parts. They’re good, nothing spectacular. But they simply don’t measure up to the personal story arcs present throughout all the characters. While every Wakandan mourns T’Challa’s passing, many of the main characters have personal journeys unrelated (or at least not directly related) to that tragedy.
With movies Infinity War, Endgame, No Way Home, and Multiverse of Madness raising the stakes to absurd heights, we need movies like Wakanda Forever. Yes, the stakes are still big, and it’s still the usual comic book movie. But there are real, relatable personal stakes at play. Forming an emotional connection to the characters on screen is (almost) always going to draw more of a reaction than seeing yet another world or universe-destroying threat.
This sort of emotional resonance helps mask the few problems with the movie. Besides the clunky beginning, it tries to squeeze in one or two too many storylines. Martin Freeman returns as CIA agent Everett Ross, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus makes another appearance as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. And it’s always fun to see those two actors, and Louis-Dreyfus has some pretty funny moments. But their inclusion felt the least necessary to the story. Their parts could have been cut down – if not cut out entirely – and the story wouldn’t have lost anything outside of a few moments of levity.
But those are ultimately minor complaints. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a massive achievement. It’s a rousing adventure all on its own, while still doing its duty to help set up future MCU installments and projects (a necessary evil at this point; though Wakanda Forever probably does the least of any recent movie in this department, and I’m counting that as a plus). And it serves as an outstanding memorial to the T’Challa character so many fell in love with so quickly, and to Chadwick Boseman, a real life superhero as far as I’m concerned.
Score: 90/100
