The MCU Passionately Mourns Chadwick Boseman While Positively Setting Up the Future of Wakanda in 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'

 

by Darian Scalamoni

    I still remember the day that I heard of the passing of Chadwick Boseman. The news floored me. He was an actor that was so young with so much life left to live, potential as an actor and talent beyond belief. Yet, despite dying too soon, he achieved an incredible amount in his short time on Earth across all media. He portrayed larger than life real cultural icons on-screen such as Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and James Brown. Despite playing those real life African American figureheads for audiences, the late, great Boseman will always be synonymous with his role as T'Challa, the Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

    Black Panther was groundbreaking in many ways. It brought together some of the best black talent in Hollywood across all mediums that embody what it means to make visual art. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, who previously had brought visceral, mature films such as Fruitvale Station and Creed to audiences, it was clear that Kevin Feige and the hierarchy of Marvel Studios created a film that would stand on its own for decades to come. When Boseman passed from his private battle with cancer, it was hard to imagine the reality that we would no longer see him play T'Challa on screen, but there was an eerie inevitability that the fictional African nation of Wakanda within the MCU would not be abandoned just because of unfortunate circumstances. A little over two years after Boseman's passing, the long-awaited sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was released.

    The film follows the very authentic feeling of loss throughout Wakanda mourning their king, T'Challa mirroring the loss of Boseman for all his castmates and friends made from the 2018 Oscar-nominated movie. Additionally, though tragedy is the crux of Wakanda Forever, it also showcases the wonderful supporting cast from Black Panther as they grieve amidst the new role that Wakanda serves in the geopolitical conflicts within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Letitia Wright's Shuri and Angela Bassett's Queen Ramonda are the only living members of their family and have continued the legacy started by T'Challa with his worldwide community outreach program he instilled at the end of the first film. However, many nations around the globe are unhappy with the lack of resources (namely Vibranium) that have been provided by Wakanda following the death of the Black Panther. In addition to the inevitable attacks from other world leaders on the country of Wakanda via the air and ground level, a new mutant leader is rising from the depths of the seas to try and form a partnership with Wakanda to protect their own beacon of Vibranium that powers their underwater nation. That mutant is none other than Namor, a popular anti-hero from Marvel comics whose origin is changed for Wakanda Forever but is just as pertinent to the narrative for this film. He is played by Tenoch Huerta within the film.

    Namor, who is referred to by his people as K'uk'ulkan, which stands for the feather serpent god, has issue with the CIA as they are invading the depths of the sea trying to navigate the waters and take Vibranium which helps run his underwater city, Talokan. During a private conversation between Shuri and Queen Ramonda, Namor rises from beneath the surface to ask for their help in defending his supply of the rare elemental metal that Wakanda has benefitted from for years. He also warns them that if they do not help him in safeguarding his vibranium (while also assisting in a potential assassination attempt on a young American scientist, more on her in a bit), then he will be forced to enter a war with Wakanda. Namor acts as a defacto villain within Wakanda Forever, but there is a lot of validity to his viewpoint on his situation in a similar fashion to how Erik Killmonger acted within his wants and desires to be the heir apparent as the Black Panther and ruler of Wakanda within the first film. 

    After speaking with Namor, it's clear to Queen Ramonda that her army, the Dora Milaje led by Danai Gurira's Okoye, embark on a trip to the States along with Shuri to get information from their CIA agent friend, Everett Ross, played by Martin Freeman who returns ahead of his role in the upcoming Disney+ series, Secret Invasion. They question him on the American scientist that Namor is referring to and are led to MIT where a student of Tony Stark's Foundational program named Riri Williams is responsible for building the machine that was used by the CIA to locate and try to extract Vibranium from Talokan. Wakanda Forever serves as an introduction to Williams, best known in the comics as her superhero alias, Ironheart, as she forms a relationship and camaraderie with both Shuri and Okoye as they try to get her to safety before an eventual kidnapping by Namor's army.

    The film serves as an emotionally charged and powerful commentary on the war for resources within political conflict, the empowering of nation's leaders to give their people any means necessary to thrive and survive amongst other communities rising to new heights as well as the beauty to give Wakanda Forever emotional weight unlike anything we've seen before in any other MCU movie. Though at times, the film can feel bloated by a 2 hour and 41-minute runtime, set-ups for future Wakandan stories and characters that serve no purpose other than to put additional names on the poster, the movie also succeeds in many different ways. Letitia Wright serves a much grander role within Wakanda, and it is earned throughout this film. Lupita Nyongo's Nakia has a story that is expanded on with understanding, grace and an emphasis on individual thinking. Angela Bassett is so tremendous in this film that she may be the first actor to be nominated for an Oscar within the "confines" of a comic book character since Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal in Joker. 

    Wakanda Forever is handled with a tenderness and care with all around great performances, introductions to great new characters and continued, terrific direction from Ryan Coogler. Though there is an argument to be made that 15-20 minutes of the film can be cut and shifted for future Wakandan stories, Coogler's handling of the untimely passing of Boseman mixed with the ambitiousness and scale of Wakanda Forever makes this film a true triumph and clearly one of the best movies of Phase 4 for Marvel. 

Overall Score: 8.5