In 2018, on the release of the first Black Panther picture from Ryan Coogler, the battle cry ‘Wakanda Forever!’ very swiftly seeped into popular culture beyond a film that was, almost immediately, a deliriously popular entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It became part of a growing black power movement, fuelled by the Black Lives Matter protests and amplified by injustices such as Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. People made the chest clutching crossed fists sign in images. The chant resonated as a unified cry as part of a collective voice against racism, against colonialism, against white supremacy. Black Panther—surprisingly not named after the 1960s radical black power movement that rose up alongside the character’s debut—not only provided the MCU with its first true black superhero icon in Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa but cut through as a powerful moment in black film history.
As a result, T’Challa instantly became an icon. He led armies in the climactic Avengers pictures of Marvel’s first cinematic age. Pundits predicted he would become the new Tony Stark, the next decade of Marvel films built heavily around his noble African King. Then tragedy struck. Boseman’s unexpected death from a colon cancer he kept secret from almost everybody forced a massive change in direction for Coogler’s intended and hugely anticipated sequel. The Black Panther was a mantle passed down among generations but it would be hard to imagine someone other than T’Challa in the suit. The sequel would become one of the hardest to predict follow up films in movie history, thanks to external circumstances.
It’s partly why using ‘Wakanda Forever’ as the suffix for Black Panther’s follow up makes complete sense. Coogler’s film is a battle cry into the void, raging against the light, deep in grief, as it transforms the honourable, sexy swagger of the first picture into a mournful reconciliation at what Wakanda, as much as the titular hero, represents.
Continue reading “BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER pulls us into a powerful, grief-filled clash of civilisations | Film Review”
culturalconversation.co.uk 