It has not even been two weeks since Black Panther’s sequel, Wakanda Forever, was released, and it’s already listed as one of the top ten highest-grossing movies of this year. Well, that is only natural, given the success of the first Black Panther film. Furthermore, Wakanda Forever is a tribute movie to Chadwick Boseman.
It was not easy for the crew members to make the sequel without the original Black Panther star Chadwick. However, the movie beautifully paid tribute to the actor and his character, T’Challa, as the makers did not feel it was right to recast him, so they also killed T’Challa in the film.
But T’Challa was not the only one who died. SPOILER ALERT! In the film, we see Queen Ramonda die after Namor attacks Wakanda. It was shocking for the fans, mainly because there were rumors that Ramonda would be the next Black Panther, and indeed, fans were not ready for her shocking death.
But guess what? We were not the only ones who were not ready for her death. Even the 64-year-old actress Angela Bassett, who portrayed the character of Queen Ramonda, revealed in an interview with IndieWire that she was not yet ready for Ramonda’s death. She objected to her death.
She said, “I objected. Yeah, I was like, ‘Ryan [Coogler], what are you doing? Why? You will rue the day! You will rue the demise of [Ramonda]. People are going to be so upset.’… He was like, ‘Angela, I know, I know, but look, to die is not really to die in this world. It doesn’t have to mean that.”
Angela then revealed that she was convinced to let Ramonda die after thinking about how everyone who blipped came back in Avengers: Endgame. She believes that “All kinds of crazy things happen,” which could indicate that her character might return somehow. However, it is a hard fact that we will not be seeing her character anytime soon.
New characters in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Even before Wakanda Forever’s trailer, everyone knew that this movie would feature two new MCU characters, including Namor and Riri Williams (Ironheart). Both are notable characters from the Marvel comics, and we sure will see them again, most probably in Avengers: Secret Wars. In contrast, we’ll also see Riri Williams in the upcoming Marvel series Ironheart.
However, we must say that Ryan Coogler is a genius. Why? Well, because of how he handled the long-debated question about T’Challa’s (Black Panther) recast. SPOILER ALERT! In the movie’s post-credit scene, we see Shuri go to Nakia’s place in Haiti, where she performs a Wakandan grieving ceremony. After she completes the ritual, she gets a massive surprise from Nakia as she introduces her to her brother King T’Challa and her (Nakia) secret son.
Nakia then reveals that both T’Challa and she decided to raise their son Toussaint away from the pressure of the crown. Later, Toussaint opens up to his aunt Shuri and says that Toussaint is his Haitian name, and when Shuri asks who he is in Wakandan language, he answers, “My name is Prince T’Challa, son of King T’Challa.”
This shows how genuinely and perfectly Coogler handled and answered the long-debated question about T’Challa’s recast. Undoubtedly, this was the best way to continue Chadwick Boseman, his character T’Challa’s legacy.
Furthermore, before any of you guys start to question, let me clear it up that T’Challa Jr. we saw in the film is not T’Challa’s son Azari T’Challa from the comics because Azari is the son of King T’Challa and Ororo Monroe (Storm).
