The actor Chadwick Boseman died unexpectedly in the middle of 2020, a tragic moment that was surprising as Boseman had kept secret his serious health issues from the general public. As much as his fans would miss his work, it did raise a question: what would Marvel do with the Black Panther franchise? Retiring the world of Wakanda was out of the question. The movie made far too much money for Disney/Marvel to do that. Besides, it was not out of the realm of possibility to find a new Black Panther as the character’s title was a name for a specific role within Wakanda. The question was less would there be more of the Black Panther so much as who would actually be the Black Panther.
That question was answered with the new sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and the movie does not for a minute ignore Boseman’s death.
King T’Challa, the Black Panther, has died of an unnamed illness, and the nation of Wakanda has moved on, but has his family? His mother, Queen Ramonda (the awesome Angela Bassett), is ruling the nation while his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) has thrown herself into her scientific research. Given the heart-shaped herb, the source of the Black Panther’s power, was lost due to the actions of Erik Killmonger in the first movie, Shuri could be working to find a way to bring the plant back, but she sees such actions as the work of the past whereas she will be looking to the future and the technology Wakanda will need to protect itself without a Black Panther. But other nations are looking for vibranium, and when the American government finds some at the bottom of the ocean, it may create a new arms race. But there are other people down there, a nation no one knows about, ruled by the superstrong, waterbreathing Namor (Tenoch Huerto).
Namor’s nation, Talokan, has been hidden from the world for centuries, a people with a culture influenced by pre-Spanish conquest Meso-American peoples. Namor makes an offer to Ramonda and Shuri: find the American scientist who built the only working vibranium detector and bring them to Namor. Otherwise, he might have to do something drastic, and a man who can find his way into Wakanda, past all of its formidable defenses, might be dangerous. Shuri, with Dora Milaje general Okoye (Danai Gurira), find the inventor in America in the form of college student Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne). Small problem: Riri didn’t know her invention was being used by the government as it was just a homework assignment. She’s an innocent, and Shiri, for one, won’t let a girl like that just get handed over to Namor and his people. Such a move won’t sit well with Namor, a man who sees his nation’s secret existence as the key to its continued existence. And if Wakanda won’t play along, well, his people are more than capable of making them pay too.
Director Ryan Coogler seems to have hit it out of the park again. His first Marvel movie dealt with deeper themes than most Marvel movies even attempt, getting into the idea of what a nation like Wakanda owes the rest of the world given its advanced technology and resources, particularly as the one nation in Africa to never suffer from colonization. This one deals more with the idea of personal grief, particularly with the Shuri character, while offering another view of a nation that could have been Wakanda itself. Namor’s Talokan shares a great deal in common with Wakanda, a stands as something of a distorted mirror image. Whereas Wakanda did eventually reveal itself, Talokan never did, and like Killmonger, Namor has his own reasons to distrust outsiders. But ultimately, this is a movie about whether or not Wakanda and the central characters there can move on without T’Challa, particularly his sister Shuri, who blames herself for his death.
As it is, Boseman’s shadow hangs over this movie. The film’s treatment of the previous movie’s star’s death is tasteful and often touching. But there is a downside in that while many members of the cast come close, I am not sure any of them aside from formidable old vets like Bassett can hope to hold a candle to Boseman’s screen presence. That said, with a handful of very noteworthy exceptions, Marvel films hasn’t had as much luck crafting sequels even as their origin stories usually fit a formula that often provides a movie that is at least entertaining. By creating a new Black Panther, this movie is arguably another origin story, taking a character through the necessary stages to become the next protector of Wakanda. That largely works, as does the movie’s reflection on grief and the sort of geopolitics that the previous movie took on. It makes these movies more ambitious in their own way than the rest of the MCU by actually digging a bit into what it means for a superhero to run a world power as well as reflecting on the sort of role that person could lead in a larger world. But in the end, Wakanda Forever is about moving on and saying goodbye, both to Boseman and T’Challa, and it does so excellently.
Grade: A-
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