Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Honors Chadwick Boseman’s Legacy and Moves the Series Forward

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever may be the best entry of Marvel’s Phase Four for what it explores. Since Avengers: Endgame, it’s felt like there’s a desperation for where to go next as this phase has struggled to find a footing. At the same time, the passing of Chadwick Boseman left a hole in the franchise that can’t be easily recast or glazed over. Rather than distancing itself from the actor’s death, this film leans into the somber sensation of grief and loss and the process of finding the strength to go forward.

Letitia Wright as Shuri. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios

With T’Challa gone, Wakanda continues on without a Black Panther. It still has a leader in T’Challa’s mother, Ramonda (Angela Bassett), who takes care to keep the nation’s vibranium resources under strict protection from international allure. While Ramonda comes to terms with her grief, Shuri (Letitia Wright) has yet to move on, remaining stuck in the “denial” part of the process—she feels responsible for not having been there for her brother and hasn’t forgiven herself. She buries herself in her tech to cope with loss, denying the mystical elements that have been a part of her family.

Shuri’s grief affects her leadership when it comes to handling the newly discovered underwater kingdom of Talokan and its leader, Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), a self-described mutant who can breathe both on land and underwater as well as fly using the wings on his feet. As Namor soon reveals to Shuri, Talokan is not all that different from Wakanda: it has a history with colonizers, vibranium is its most treasured resource, and its people have a vested interest in keeping their thriving community secluded from the rest of the world. The key difference, naturally, is that Wakanda keeps the outside world at bay by nonlethal means, while the Talokans will kill to keep their community a secret.

Thankfully, the film never resorts to making this an easy battle of kingdoms. Shuri’s road to recovery and leadership is a rocky one; she’s haunted by the past and bound by a means of revenge that could bring about the end of her family and kingdom. This is a great aspect of her character because it makes the consequences of the obligatory final battle feel more profound.

Dorothy Steel, Florence Kasumba, Angela Bassett, and Danai Gurira in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios

While the thematic elements are strong, the overall assembly does get crowded and messy at times, and much gets left by the wayside even with the film’s running time bordering on three hours. Room has been made for returning characters like the stern and dry-witted Okoye (Danai Gurira), the aggressive M’Baku (Winston Duke), and the conflicted Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o). They’re given plenty of fun stuff to do—M’Baku steals scenes with his eccentricities, and Nakia plays a strong part as a crafty spy. Newcomer Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) is a delightful fish-out-of-water in the story, and it’s great to see how strong her chemistry is with Shuri and Okoye, but there are so few scenes with her that the film almost inexplicably has to remind you of her broader significance to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

There’s a question of whether the film even needs Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), who remains the CIA contact for Wakanda but has little involvement with the greater conflict. It almost feels like he’s in a completely different movie—as though he’s forgotten about amid a CIA spy story. Why even have him in so many scenes if all he amounts to is a go-between contact for some info here and there?

Danai Gurira as Okoye. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios

Even with these misfires, the film still shines bright with Ryan Coogler’s stylish direction. Wakanda still feels alive and brimming with its iconic Afrofuturism, and Talokan has a unique style in its meshing of Mayan culture with a kingdom of the seas (though it’ll no doubt get some unjust comparisons to the upcoming Avatar: The Way of Water). And it can’t be overstated just how much of a heartfelt ode the whole film is to Boseman’s legacy, becoming a driving force for the sadness and sense of hope that pushes for Wakanda and the Black Panther to continue.

Ultimately, though Wakanda Forever may be bloated compared to the first Black Panther movie, it still finds a stellar course for the superhero franchise. Beyond all the connections to other parts of the MCU and the obligatory beats of a superhero story, the emotional driving force remains the most in focus. All of this leads up to one of the best Easter eggs of the MCU—which is not about which villain is coming next or what will follow for another Avengers movie but about finding a sense of contentment and inspiration for what comes after Boseman.

Photo by Eli Adé/Marvel Studios