WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD. 

By Ashwin Aggarwal

Leading up to the release this fall of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the sequel to 2018’s Black Panther, there were many questions that fans needed to be answered. The actor who played the role of Black Panther (T’Challa), Chadwick Boseman, passed away in 2020 from colon cancer, which he had kept hidden from the world, and there was speculation as to who would take his place. 

Coming into Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, I had no idea what to expect. I hadn’t watched the trailer for the movie or even looked at the cast. I walked into the Regal Cinemas in Short Pump with a bucket of popcorn and some Skittles, excited to see the newest Marvel movie.

For those who haven’t seen the first movie, Wakanda is a small fictional country in Africa rich in natural resources. Legend has it that a giant meteorite crashed there carrying a mineral called Vibranium. Vibranium allowed Wakanda to become more advanced than other countries with its technology and weapons. However, the Wakandan people have isolated themselves from the rest of the world and are not willing to share their Vibranium. T’Challa is the king of the nation and has superpowers, allowing himself to be the Black Panther.

The opening scene of the movie is a scene of King T’Challa’s death. He is dying from an illness that he kept secret from the world. This mirrored how the character’s actor, Boseman, passed away in real life. Shuri, T’Challas’s younger sister (played by Letitia Wright), is desperately trying to save her brother by synthetically recreating an heart-shaped herb. The field of these herbs was destroyed by Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), the main antagonist in the first movie. Unable to recreate the herb in her lab and failing to save her brother, Shuri is grief-stricken, as is all of Wakanda. 

Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther in 2018’s Black Panther.

However, the saddened faces of fans watching the movie turned into smiles of nostalgia as the movie brings us through the traditions with which Wakanda and its people celebrated T’Challas’s life, as opposed to mourning his death. Tribal clothing, drum beats, and dancing were all seen in this celebration. The Wakandans bury T’Challa in a large black tomb embellished with the Black Panther mask. 

What surprised me, however, was that there were no Avengers present at his funeral. Whether or not the outside world was informed of the Black Panther’s death until after his death, or the people of Wakanda wish to keep the burial purely within the tribe, I was hoping to see Avengers that were close to T’Challa, like Sam Wilson, the new Captain America.

The empty throne is filled by Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett). Furthermore, the death of T’Challa leaves Wakanda vulnerable in the eyes of countries around the world. These countries seek Wakanda’s vast resources, especially Vibranium.

Or so we think.

An American mining ship is attacked and sunk because they found Vibranium in the ocean. The attackers are unknown, and the whole world assumes it was Wakanda. However, it is soon discovered that there is another country that had Vibranium: an ancient Mayan civilization called Talocan.

This was very surprising, as I had never heard of Talocan before. The leader of the Talocan, Namor the Sub-Mariner, is portrayed with wings on his feet that allow him to fly. He is played by the Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta Mejía. Namor is also called K’uk’ulkan, based on the Feathered Serpent deity of the Mayan. 

Although I thought that the addition of the Mayans’ history to the Black Panther storyline seemed very impulsive and sporadic, I was impressed how this film showed the beginning of this civilization. The movie also portrays how Spanish conquistadors transmitted diseases to the Mayans, and how the Mayan people were dying by the thousands.

Tenoch Mejía as Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

One Mayan found a heart-shaped herb and gave it to a number of Mayans, which healed them. One of these people was Namor’s mother, while Namor was in the womb. Since this heart-shaped herb was found underwater, it gave the Mayan people gills, but not lungs, so they were forced to live underwater and leave their people behind. When Namor was born, he was born with gills and lungs, so he was able to go on land. When his mother died of old age, Namor buried her on land, which was her final request, and this is when he saw the Spanish settlers had enslaved his people and burned his civilization to ashes. 

Although it was a tragic story, I found this origin story interesting because of its basis in Central American history. Avid Marvel fan Benjamin Lamb, Collegiate’s archivist and an Upper School librarian, stated that “It was nice to have Namor show up as a character. He is one of my favorite Marvel characters in the comics.”

The tribes of Wakanda and Talocon quarrel over whether to attack the world or to help the world and when they disagree, and Shuri is forced to become the next Black Panther. In the fight that ensues, Namor kills Queen Ramonda, Shuri’s last remaining family member. Blinded by revenge, Shuri launches a full attack on the people of Talocan and defeats Namor. The two countries settle on an alliance and make peace. 

Normally, Marvel puts an end-credit scene that leaves fans laughing on their way out of the theater. However, after this end-credit scene, fans left the theater stunned. This particular scene featured Shuri and Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) on a beach in Haiti, where Nakia now lives and works as a teacher. Then, Nakia reveals that she had a son and that the father was T’Challa himself. Nakia was keeping her son secret from the people of Wakanda so the young boy would be able to grow up without the burden of politics in Wakanda. The boy’s Haitian name is Toussiant, but his Wakandan name is T’Challa, a tribute to his late father.

Although this movie introduced new characters, that’s pretty much all it did. There were very few fights and almost too much dialogue, especially when introducing Namor. Showing Shuri as the new Black Panther was exciting but felt highly predictable as the movie progressed. Lamb agreed, stating, “The movie felt very cookie-cutter and factory-made, both visually and narratively.” However, Lamb did offer praise for the movie as he commented, “I thought [Marvel] handled the death of Chadwick Boseman very well within the film. I thought the elevation of the female characters to make it a female-driven action was pretty great.”

This movie is not close to the level of the first Black Panther movie or other top-tier Marvel movies like Avengers: Infinity War, but if you are looking for a fun action movie to watch with your friends and family, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a great choice.

All images courtesy of Marvel Studios.