Marvel Studio's Black Panther is the unquestionable champion of the entire MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Its heavily textured characters, resonating story, exciting action sequences, and narrative priorities make it more than worthy of its Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Much of the quality of the film can be attributed to its co-writer & director, Ryan Cooglier, and especially to its leading star, the late Chadwick Boseman as King T'Challa/Black Panther. With his unfortunate and untimely passing back in 2020, there was much uncertainty circulating about rather or not the would be, or even should be, a follow-up. No actor in their right mind would even dare to suggest taking up the mantle, and implementing deep fake methods would be disrespectful and incredibly tacky.
Yet, here we are, with a recently dropped trailer for the upcoming follow-up, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. While the trailer itself is incredibly goosebump-inducing, what can we glean from the trailer regarding the narrative, concept, and most importantly, how they will handle the absence of its most significant element?
While I do not intend to break down the entire trailer in search of what the whole film may entail, I am going to examine some of the little hints sprinkled throughout and offer my thoughts on what it might likely be and why I'm incredibly excited for it.
So, let's start digging.
My first reaction upon seeing the trailer is how feminine-focused the story appears to be. The first film prided itself on featuring, among other things, incredible women characters with texture and depth. Since the creative team from the first film is making a triumphant return for this one, I am not surprised that element will remain, as it should.
As we go further into the trailer, the conflict appears to be one of civil unrest. There seems to be a war brewing between Wakanda (Black Panther's home) and an underwater kingdom of some kind. This is likely to be the introduction of another Marvel superhero character, Namor: The Sub-Mariner, prince of the sea. He's basically Marvel's rough equivalent to DCs Aquaman. His presence in this film is likely one of rivalry against Wakanda for some reason yet to be shown.
The only bit of dialogue featured in the trailer is from Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) proclaiming to the tribal council, "I am Queen of the most powerful nation in the world, and my entire family is gone! Have I not given everything?" Part of the speech plays over a brief clip showing a painting of T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), the previous King of Wakanda and former Black Panther. This would seem to imply that the filmmakers intend to incorporate the untimely death of King T'Challa into the narrative. While the reasons for this creative decision are unfortunate, given the circumstances, I think it was the best course of action. Not only is it respectful to Chadwick Boesman's memory, but it also paves the way for new heroes born from his inspiration.
Special attention should also be drawn to the trailer's choice of music: a surprisingly beautiful and appropriately kick-ass cover of Bob Marly's "No Woman, No Cry." On the surface, it seems like a lovely song to accompany the visuals, and while that is indeed the case to an extent, there is something much deeper underneath the surface. Given the proper context of the song and the aforementioned feminine-focused narrative I suggested, it would seem to hint that the film is likely about loss, love, and moving forward while honoring the memory of those who made you who you are. An appropriate story for this particular set of characters.
Whatever may be in store for us with this film, I have the utmost confidence that co-writer & director Ryan Coogler, along with the rest of the returning cast and crew, will present us with a story that not only honors Chadwick Boseman's memory; but continues to inspire and encourage greatness in us all with this next chapter.
I, for one, cannot wait to see how they will accomplish this task. We shall see come this November.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.
WAKANDA FOREVER!
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