What we need to know about Wakanda Forever: Who replaces T’Challa? What’s Namor’s deal? Why is Ironheart here? And more
We've got some burning questions—10 of them, in fact—and we'll be looking closely for answers when Marvel's Black Panther sequel finally opens this week
Film Features Wakanda
(Clockwise from left) The mysterious new Black Panther; Angela Bassett as Ramonda; Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia Image: All images courtesy of Marvel Studios
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is arguably the most anticipated film from Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not only was the first Black Panther movie one of Marvel’s best, but there’s even more pressure riding on the sequel because star Chadwick Boseman died before filming could begin. We know Wakanda Forever will incorporate Boseman’s death into the narrative, but there are still a lot of unknowns. Here are the biggest questions we have going into Black Panther 2.
44 Comments
Can’t wait. Isn’t the beach South America? With the ziggurat in the back? Be cool if the Black Panther suit wasn’t one person but the collected consciouness of the people of Wakanda. Maybe Namor does something to kick off mutants in the MCU? No ideas on anything else.
Just to be petty, the ziggurat makes it more likely Mesoamerica, which is technically in North America, not South America. This is especially true is Talokan is based on Mesoamerican mythology.
No, if I got it wrong please correct me. I thought that area was South America, so I’ve been mistaken.
Well, I think a lot of people use “South America” to mean “everything in the Americas except the US and Canada,” so by common convention, you’re not wrong. But Mesoamerica is definitely geographically part of North America.
Yeah, if you ask someone how many countries there are in North America, 90% of them would say three or fewer. Approximately 0% would guess 23. Even people who know enough to include Central America still get lost in the Caribbean Sea.
Actually *pushes up glasses* Canada is North America, the US is America, and Mexico is South America; anything below that is just somewhere else….what, I’m not the only one who takes Three Year Letterman seriously, am I?(/s, in case that wasn’t obvious)
I just hope it’s not Shuri or it’s at the very least a shared mantle because I don’t want an uninformed anti-vaxx moron get rewarded for being so stupid she held up production.
….It is going to be Shuri as the Black Panther for sure. Not a reward for the actress, but you know to service the plot and the storyline.
Then if they want to service the plot and storyline, maybe they should recast the character with someone who isn’t a fucking idiot whose views actively contribute to diminishing other people’s safety. They did just fine with switching Terrence Howard for Don Cheadle.Letitia Wright becoming the new franchise headliner despite the fact that her anti-vaxx nonsense literally held up production is absolutely a reward for her.
Not really a parallel comparison there. Howard for Cheadle happened in between movies. Black Panther 2 was written and in production when Letitia revealed herself.
I understand the logistics but they’re one of the biggest, richest companies in existence and the MCU already had a bunch of its shit moved. They could figure this out, they just don’t give a shit.While we’re at it: recast Evangeline Lily’s dumbass as well. I like her a lot but she’s a rich person in 2022, there’s absolutely no excuse for people like her to be misinformed and spew horseshit about “personal freedoms” when others around the world are fucking dying because people are indignant about staying at home when they’re sick.
Even before Letitia Wright revealed herself to be a transphobic anti-vaxxer, I held the strong opinion that Shuri – in the films – was an awful character. I was and am well aware that Shuri becomes Black Panther in the comics, and if that was the version of Shuri we saw on-screen, then it probably would’ve been fine.But comics Shuri is not MCU Shuri, and I don’t think the character can be salvaged in a realistic way – that is, without basically re-writing it into an entirely different character.Disney isn’t going to miss my fifteen bucks, but I have no desire to watch a film with that character at its center. It should’ve been Nakia.
I was hoping for Nakia too. She would make the most sense. I know it is most likely Shuri because of the character’s comic run though. Though Google says both actresses are the same height and Marvel does have a habit of outright editing scenes for trailers to hide spoilers.
Even the new Black Panther Marvel Legends toy doesn’t state who’s in the suit.
Rumors suggest that at least part of it is because it IS Shuri for most of the movie but towards the end they pivot to a different Black Panther once again, which would be incredibly messy if true.
The on-screen aspect could’ve been avoided if they’d just made MCU Shuri more like comics Shuri. But then again, not being particularly familiar with Letitia Wright’s other work (and I’m not going to seek it out now) I don’t know how much of the awfulness of the character as presented on-screen is down to her performance; maybe casting someone different in the first place would’ve cured at least some of those ills.
Honestly, I think this incarnation of Shuri would’ve worked better if the character had another film or two to grow (and if the actress stayed off social media). They definitely could’ve set Shuri, Peter Parker, Riri and maybe Amadeus Cho as the next generation of science buddies. Give her time to grow beyond being T’Challa’s little sister who makes all the tech and has cringe dialogue.
Though I guess that ship sailed with Sony’s threats to pull Spider-Man from the MCU considering No Way Home left him in a spot where he isn’t a part of any storylines anymore.
It’s gotta be Shuri. The costume seems patterned after her look (mainly the forehead dots especially) but it also definitely seems like her body type, so not so sure what other people are seeing. It seems like a slender, petite woman, which fits Shuri more than Nakia or Okoye.
The new Black Panther from the trailer is 100% Letitia Wright. Her and Lupita have very different body types and whichever tactic they used for that CGI (mocap, body double, etc) it’s someone lanky and thin.
I don’t know why they didn’t just cast a new dude. Killing a character offscreen is always awkward, doubly so when you’re only doing it because you think audiences are too stupid to understand a recast. If they want his sister to be black panther too, just have 2 black panthers. She already makes all the suits, of course she’d make herself one on the sly.
oh my gooood. I’ve avoided all the trailers simply cuz I don’t want to know who the new Panther is or what Iron Heart looks like. I do not understand why so many toxic fandoms salivate over knowing every detail of the film before they see it.
IT COMES OUT IN FOUR FUCKING DAYS JUST WAIT INSTEAD OF SPOILING IT FOR YOURSELVES. Oh my god you wouldn’t think you’d need to explain basic principals of enjoying things to people…. Okay try to hear me out for two seconds….. being surprised while watching a film is actually a nice experience. I know it sounds super crazy but I swear seeing the new BP suit will actually feel better if you see it the first time when ur seeing the film. Trust me.
Woof.
You guys are just impatient af you know that right?
This from the guy who couldn’t wait more than one minute for someone to reply to his commend and did it himself.
Try decaf.
This is actually not true.https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/spoiler-alert-spoilers-make-you-enjoy-stories-moreMeow.
A single study with less than a 1000 participants is hardly the bulletproof response that you think it is.
It holds more weight than one guy’s opinion on a message board.
And yet even this article says “we can’t experience a story for the first time twice”. Many people find value in experiencing something for the first time.
Not me! I hate everything until at least the fifth time. It’s just medicine until then.
it’s been proven that spoilers don’t effect your enjoyment of a movie.
Oh wow, a scientific study that I wasn’t involved in “proves” that I should be fine with spoilers I hate this sorta shit.
Definitely a fun way for them to reply to OP’s being such an over-the-top cranky-ass bitch about it, though.
Studies show that the average person has approximately one testicle and one ovary.
I’m also amused by people who want to know every single detail about a movie before they see it, but then I remind myself that I was young once. I sought out spoilers. I wish I remembered exactly why, but I vaguely recall spoilers raising my excitement and anticipation. At some point – probably after one too many times coming across a spoiler that was “wrong” (either because it was made up or cut from the final film) – I stopped caring and just started waiting, like a normal person. If I ever was in a position to make a highly anticipated movie, I like to imagine I would release the script, the pre-production artwork, etc. online as the movie was being made just to see how these impatient “have to know every detail” fanatics react.On the other hand… I know it sounds super crazy but I swear seeing the new BP suit will actually feel better if you see it the first time when ur seeing the film. Trust me.This is the opposite extreme. The movie is called Black Panther. Heaven forbid Marvel put Black Panther on the poster for the movie called Black Panther. These movies aren’t made solely for people who will buy their ticket the moment it goes on sale and plan out how many times they are going to rewatch it before they even see it the first time. There are people being born today that won’t see the movie for the first time for five, ten years. More than likely, the new BP suit will be the cover of the DVD. If seeing the new suit shatters your enjoyment of the film, that doesn’t bode well for the overall quality of the film. Trust me.
What’s a DVD?
Here’s my problem. I don’t have a theater. And once it’s out, trying to avoid spoilers for the next three to four months is more work than it’s worth. So bring it on, I’ve literally got nothing better to do.
Black Panther 2: Wakanda. Whatever.
“Honestly, though, what we really want to know is how much it’ll look like Atlantis in DC’s Aquaman.
We’re hoping, nay, praying, that because this is Marvel, the name
change and culture switch will mean less Day-Glo and fewer fluorescent
lights.”In fairness, if you’re living under water, it would make sense that most of the light comes from bioluminescence, which would probably have that day-glo look?
My job has had me doing disaster recovery work for years now, and I refuse to believe a nation as advanced as Wakanda had its figurative eggs in one basket for Killmonger to torch. The scene where he burned “all” of the heart-shaped herb was too much for me to accept.
I dunno I’ve had some mornings where I’m like “there’s no way I burned all the herb” but sure enough I did.
It’s been a minute since i’ve seen the first film but didn’t someone come in and secretly scoop up one of those glow flowers??
My thoughts: 1) The herb had to come from somewhere, perhaps there’s more growing wild in Wakanda, or some kind of seed vault. 2) As I recall from the 1st movie one herb was saved to give T’Challa his powers back at the end. Between Riri and Shuri they could potentially synthesize or clone the herb from a sample of that last one; or maybe even from the compounds in T’Challa’s blood (ok that’s a super big reach but it’s comic books we’re talking about here)
Read a review that made this film sound very interesting. They said this was an allegory for the undocumented migrants from Mexico and South America who have been murdering African American people of color at alarming rates in South Central.
The new Black Panther is a robot. It’s why they need Riris help. Her and Suri build it together.
I think we all knew that Riri was going to be introduced at some point, but I would have liked it before this movie. When? I don’t know; she would have made more sense in Iron Man 3 than the boy, and that timeline could have worked.It just feels like they’re shoehorning her in, and for the next “Tony Stark” type person, I feel like thats a disservice to her.I’ll gladly hear other people’s takes on this. Curious as to what others may think.