Black Panther

2022 - 11 - 10

Black Panther 2 -- Wakanda -- Wakanda Forever Black Panther 2 - Wakanda - Wakanda Forever

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Image courtesy of "Gizmodo"

Why Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Has the Best End Credit ... (Gizmodo)

The new Marvel movie—starring Letitia Wright, Angela Bassett, and Winston Duke—is now in theaters.

No end credits scene in Marvel Cinematic Universe history has so expertly threaded that needle of cool future implications, while also wrapping up and being a crucial addition to the story you just watched. His name is Toussaint (Divine Love Konadu-Sun) and we learn he’s the son of T’Challa and Nakia. For example, in the film we never quite learn why Nakia—T’Challa’s significant other—didn’t come to his funeral. Once the waterworks stop, the implications of the scene are huge. And yet, on top of all that, meeting the boy also provides an even warmer, more loving, and deeper conclusion to the film as a whole. What could have been a sad ending of Shuri simply mourning her losses instantly becomes cathartic and hopeful. However, those decades-away hypotheticals are not why this scene stands on the top of the MCU mountain. Picking up seconds after the film ends, we see Shuri (Letitia Wright) still crying on the beach in Haiti as she burns her funeral garb, marking the end of mourning not just for her brother, but her mother too. And yet we think Marvel’s latest film, [Black Panther: Wakanda Forever](https://gizmodo.com/black-panther-wakanda-forever-movie-review-marvel-studi-1849725648), has the best credits scene in Marvel Studios history. Nakia explains T’Challa wanted Toussaint to grow up away from the pressures of the throne which is why he remained hidden. Since the beginning, Marvel Studios has put scenes during and after its credits to keep fans in the seats and tease what’s to come. Wakanda Forever only has one end credits scene, and it’s in the middle.

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Image courtesy of "Vulture"

Wakanda Forever's New Black Panther Is the Only Natural Choice (Vulture)

Shuri (Letitia Wright) suits up in Marvel's 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' as the new Black Panther, a successor to Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa.

According to Queen Ororo (the X-Men’s Storm, T’Challa’s wife in the comics), Wakanda needed a Black Panther, and Shuri was the most suitable candidate. In a meta-textual sense, Shuri’s initial refusal to take on the identity speaks to how no one is really capable of living up to Chadwick Boseman. The battle for the throne, and thus for the mantle, is a visualization of the idea of continued lineage, with a mask that anonymizes its wearer in order to draw a direct ceremonial line between generations of Wakandans who previously donned it. Shuri graced the cover of 2009’s Black Panther #1, which told much of her story in flashback after Doctor Doom attacked T’Challa and left him for dead, leaving Wakanda without a Black Panther to protect it. In the first Black Panther, Shuri was referred to as “a child who scoffs at tradition,” an idea that informs her story after her brother succumbs (off-screen) to an illness which she’s powerless to prevent, despite her technological prowess. The 2020 passing of Chadwick Boseman left Marvel Studios two choices: re-cast his role as T’Challa, the Black Panther and king of Wakanda, or pay tribute in the sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

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