Friday, 11 November 2022
Writer : Aaron Bennedict Sugianto
Editor : Hubert Chua
A Scene Depicted from the Trailer of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Marvel movies have been a staple of our modern pop culture with adoring fans worldwide, so it’s no wonder that the newly released movie, ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,’ is showered by high expectations from every direction.
So, what do we know so far? This new comic book adaptation is a continuation of a previous Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) installment titled ‘Black Panther’, which tells the story of the comic book superhero, Black Panther, the ancestral protector of the fictional developed East African nation of Wakanda. The movie focuses on King T’Challa – the newly coronated monarch after the assassination of his father, T’Chaka, which could be seen in ‘Captain America: Civil War’ (another Marvel movie title) – in his turbulent journey of fulfilling his duty as the next Black Panther. However, this new sequel focuses more on T’Challa’s family and friends in struggle to protect Wakanda from external threats to the throne after his death.
What Do We Know About The Movie?
From the material Marvel Studios have showed us so far, T’Challa will no longer continue as the title-holder of ‘Black Panther’ as it is confirmed that he will not survive in the movie from a still unknown cause. This is a decision done after the tragic passing of T’Challa’s actor, Chadwick Boseman of colon cancer in 2020.
This movie will feature Namor, the Sub-Mariner (played by Tenoch Huerta) as its prime antagonist – who in the comic books is a monarch from a rival empire, Atlantis – who tries to intervene on Wakandan politics after the death of King T’Challa. In the comics, Namor is an Atlantean mutant who has immense strength and the ability to fly as well as breathe underwater.
From released trailers, director Ryan Coogler has taken some creative liberties from the comic book source regarding the presentation of Namor and his kingdom. In his recent interview with Inverse, he mentioned that he had come to a decision of replacing Namor’s origin from an Atlantean background to something inspired by lost Mayan civilizations. This is done as he believes that many stories had previously shown different interpretations of Atlantis, the lost city, thus with respect to his audience, he wanted to convey something similar in a unique way.
Picture of Tenoch Huerta playing his character in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
“There have been a lot of representations and creative depictions of Atlantis based off of Plato’s Atlantis, the Greco-Roman concept of a city sunk into the sea. That idea exists in a lot of different ways. We wanted our film to exist alongside those movies and be different. It was really out of respect to the audience, not wanting to give them something similar to other things that have come before it.”
- Ryan Coogler in Inverse
Besides its antagonist, the movie has shown to have other unexpected character reveals such as Riri Williams (played by Dominique Thorne), who is confirmed to have a significant role in the movie. For those of you who don’t know, Riri Williams is the identity of Ironheart in Marvel comics, a gifted 15-year-old MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) student who designed an armored suit similar to Iron Man’s. This movie serves as an introduction of the character into the MCU as Marvel Studios’ President, Kevin Feige, announced in the D23 Expo 2022 that a new Disney+ project, ‘Ironheart’ will be set to release in Fall 2023.
Kevin Feige, Ryan Coogler, and cast, Antony Ramos presenting upcoming Disney+ series, ‘Ironheart,’ in the D23 Expo 2022 in Anaheim.
How Does This Fit Into The Broader Marvel Cinematic Universe?
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ is expected to be a huge stepping stone for the cinematic universe. With the death of T’Challa’s Black Panther, this feature has the opportunity to introduce a young character who can take over and sustain the Black Panther legacy into the future of the MCU; and from the teasers they showed us, they are clearly heading towards the right path. From the several trailers that exist, it is shown that the next successor of the Black Panther mantle would be female (most likely Shuri, T’Challa’s sister), although, her identity is not confirmed.
A teaser of the new female Black Panther from Marvel trailers.
With the induction of the new Black Panther, as well as Ironheart into the MCU, they are aiming towards a goal of replacing the old generation of heroes that we have grown attached to throughout the years with a much fresher and younger generation. This can already be seen from other young generation additions to the MCU so far: Kate Bishop from ‘Hawkeye’ (2021); America Chavez from ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ (2022); Kamala Khan from ‘Ms. Marvel’ (2022); and Skaar from ‘She-Hulk’ (2022). Despite the fact that this is only a speculation that lacks any confirmation, we can certainly hope that the MCU is leaning towards this path to introduce a breath of fresh air into their future projects.
Personal Expectations and Speculations
In my own personal opinion, the MCU has past its glory days with later releases after ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ with a streak of entertaining but mediocre and disappointing films that fail to evolve the MCU in an impactful way such as ‘Black Widow’ (2021), ‘Eternals’ (2021), ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ (2022), and ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ (2022); alongside a bunch of bad series releases. That is why I hold high expectations that this new ‘Black Panther’ movie could break the monotonous cycle of the ‘generic Marvel movie’ titles and surpass the boundaries set by previous projects, and from the looks of it, this release is right on track to do so creatively and uniquely. I have genuinely high hopes for this project and if one could only wish that this movie would not disappoint.
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ is currently set to release in cinemas (11th of November) around the world for you to see (Vue in Norwich). If you have any spare time, it would definitely make an entertaining hangout plan to watch with your friends. I would really love to know about your thoughts so come and tell me all about them in the comment section below. Last thing to remember, have a lovely day and enjoy the watching experience !
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