Wakanda Forever Is A Final Goodbye To Chadwick Boseman

A popular question in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has an answer with the release of the MCU's second installment in the Black Panther series. How could they move on after the loss of Chadwick Boseman's King T'Challa?

Black Panther Wakanda Forever was released in theaters with early showings starting yesterday. To those doubters or the flat-out haters, even Chadwick Boseman would look down from the heavens and approve of the incredible story they've told.

There will be minor spoilers, so turn back now or consider yourself warned.

After the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman in August 2020, the Marvel Universe was in disarray, and fans were heartbroken. Boseman, who had been fighting what reports called a very private and silent fight with cancer, had walked onto the screen in a way that told most fans he owned the Black Panther as much as Robert Downey Jr. did Iron Man, Chris Evans did Captain America, or Chris Hemsworth did Thor.

Boseman's performance and the creation of the Wakandan world had fans salivating for more from the opening days of the first Black Panther. Doing a second Black Panther was a surprise to fans as they believed it was either over or we would be stuck with the crap shoot that is recasting a role. It worked when they recast the character of Roads, but Terrance Howard didn't own the character the way the other members of the MCU did theirs, and we were lucky to get Don Cheadle.

In Black Panther 2, we open with a tribute to Chadwick as the real world ended up in the script, as T'Challa had been fighting a disease without telling his family until the end of his story. The death of King T'Challa feels all the more real as it is highlighted by the fact that the man many looked to as the king of Wakanda, Boseman, died in much the same fashion.

The grieving Wakandan royals, and the people of Wakanda, won't have much time to rest as Queen Ramonda now leads the people of her country and Suri immediately starts working on alternate ways to safeguard her people through technology. Faced with threats from all around, including the member states of the United Nations, the trying times that Queen Ramonda experienced are felt through the incredibly talented performance that Angela Bassett gives.

"I'm the queen of the most powerful nation in the world, and my whole family's gone! Have I not given everything?"

-Queen Ramonda

Wakanda faces a new threat on the horizon due to the genius of a child making it possible to find Vibranium outside of Wakanda. A host of new characters are introduced in Wakanda Forever, one of them being the 19- year-old Tony Starkesqe, Riri Williams.

The character of Riri Williams is that of a genius student at M.I.T. who sets out to prove she can do the things others can't while working in an auto shop, and as we'll see from the trailers and even more so in the movie, building her own version of the Iron Man suit, Iron Heart.

Being quickly sought out by Namor (the water people) and his armies, Suri and Okoye are dispatched to retrieve the young student and bring her to Wakanda. All does not go as planned, as Namor strikes.

Namor's world is akin to the Atlantians in another comic franchise but through the movie and a visit to the deep sea, we'll learn that Namor's history started along the Central American and Mexican coastal regions of the Atlantic, and Kukulcan is from the history of the people in the Mesoamerican regions.

Anyone who's seen the previews knows The Black Panther must return to fend off the threats to Wakanda, and despite the trailers, the long-term future of the Black Panther is still in doubt by the end of the movie. The action sequences, the beauty and splendor of the Wakandan people and their world, and the well-scripted story that both honors the passing of King T'Challa and moves the story toward him not being there and the people in the world of Black Panther moving on were incredibly done.

In the end, Marvel did the movie justice as this is one of the most well-told, well-scripted, and powerful performances we'll ever see in the MCU. This doesn't feel like the typical Marvel movie. This is both an adventure movie, and a memorial to T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), and gives the world a chance to remember and say farewell to a beloved character.

Make sure to stick around for the after-credits. The final credit is:

The Black Panther Will Return