Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Preview and Breakdown
Welcome back to HLS Entertainment! Today we are doing a big deep dive previewing the final MCU Phase 4 film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Here on HLS Entertainment, we have been breaking down and predicting every single Marvel Studios (and a few DC) properties over the past few years and we have had a very strong track record at predicting them. I say that to say, spoilers. Treat this entire blog as spoilers for this movie and all of Marvel Studios properties in general. Still here? Perfect. First off please be sure to follow me on Twitter @HaroldLStokes for all comic book movie goodness, I'd love to chat with you there about movies.
So why should you care what I have to say? Why should you listen to my predictions? Well I always try to lay out my "credentials" at the top and this list keeps growing and growing. Here is my preview for every single MCU Phase 4 property (aside from Ms. Marvel)* and you can read or skim through a few, or all of them, and see why I am very confident in my predictions.
Werewolf By Night, She-Hulk, Thor 4, Doctor Strange 2, Moon Knight, Spider-Man 3, Hawkeye, Eternals, Shang-Chi, Black Widow, Loki, Falcon and Winter Soldier, and WandaVision
*I did not finish my Ms. Marvel preview on time due to personal reasons and did not feel fair to publish
On to the breakdown! First up locations!
Locations to Know
Wakanda
Obviously, but specifically Golden City/ Birnin Zana, the capital city of Wakanda and
Jabari Land
The home of the Jabari Tribe and the highest elevated area in Wakanda...
Talokan
I have seen it spelled as it is above and as Talocan, I guess I won't know officially until I see the subtitles. Think of this as the MCU's Atlantis. They made the cool decision to twist it from the same old Greek/Roman Atlantis to something inspired by Mayan and Mesoamerican culture.
This movie seems to also have scenes set in Chicago (where Riri is from) but obviously it could also make sense for it to be Boston (MIT) or Oakland (the Wakanda outreach program set up in the first movie could be the connection?), as well as possibly Washington D.C.?
Characters to Know
Shuri - Letitia Wright
General Okoye - Danai Gurira
Queen Ramonda - Angela Bassett
Nakia - Lupita Nyongo'o
Namor aka K'uk'ulkan the Feather Serpent god- Tenoch Huerta
CIA Agent Everett K. Ross - Martin Freeman
M'Baku - Winston Duke
Riri Williams aka Ironheart - Dominique Thorne
Previous MCU appearances: None
Riri Williams is a super genius just like Shuri but is deeply inspired by Tony Stark and makes her own Iron Man armor, becoming Ironheart. I am looking forward to Shuri and her bouncing ideas off each other, just a bunch of science nonsense no one understands but them. Riri in the comics is from Chicago and is an MIT student, she has been a bit of an introvert in the comics I am curious if they explore this and show how she might feel comfortable in opening up with Shuri as she is someone that speaks her language of intelligence.
Aneka - Michaela Coel
Ayo - Florence Kasumba
Namora - Mabel Cadena
Previous MCU appearances: None
Trusted advisor to Namor and his cousin, as well as princess to the throne.
Attuma - Alex Livinalli
Princess Fen - Maria Mercedes Coroy
Previous MCU appearances: None
Namor's mother.. who I think sadly won't have too much screentime...
Plot Breakdown
Okay before I get started one last time SPOILERS, I am going to be going through the entire plot and how I see the film going based off trailers and interviews alone.
I believe the movie opens up with T'Challa's funeral, and we get a moving tribute to him. Opening the movie honoring and celebrating both the character and Chadwick Boseman himself. We see Ramonda is doing her best to hold things together, meanwhile Shuri is still very broken up.
I am curious if this happens simultaneously, but I believe we cut to a Wakandan ship that is raided by French soldiers. We see the ship is not simply a research or aid ship as it is revealed to be heavily defended by the Dora Milaje easily taking out the soldiers. Meanwhile we see Queen Ramonda at the UN delivering a speech discussing terms and calling out world leaders. The French delegate (I keep saying French based off the clip shown at D23 but they easily could have changed the nationality) insults and denies any ill will towards Wakanda as the session is interrupted and the Dora march the French soldiers in.
It could happen at any point, but I think here is where we get Namor's full backstory. We see that the Talokan mutant ruler is actually MUCH older than he appears. We see his mother Princess Fen give birth to him, we see him as a child and how his father was not of Talokan but of the surface world. But then we see tragedy strike as his hatred for the surface world begins as his family is brutally killed hundreds of years ago and him taking control of his people swearing revenge but protecting them first and foremost.
From here we cut to a scene of an oil spill or some other disaster. This is a complete shot in the dark, maybe caused by the CIA could be where we see Ross finding out the experimental pipeline equipment made by a MIT student "fails". We see a relief ship sent to the spot to try to find out what happened, and we see Talokan (Talokaneans?) attack the ship. I am not sure if this is a planned assault or if it a rogue group.
At this point it has been about a year after T'Challa's death, Shuri isn't really over it and the family takes a trip to mourn together to help them all move on. It is on the island that seems to be away from Wakanda, possibly in Central America. This is when Namor appears first to Shuri and Ramonda, he comes in peace with a proposition. Join me or die. We get a few scenes of them talking over the situation and how the surface world has never been kind to Wakanda just like Talokan has been attacked and taken advantage of. He tells them they will take out everyone responsible for the spills and attacks on his people.
This is when Shuri and Okoye travel to Boston(?) to track down Riri Williams. They do this because we find out it is her equipment that "failed" and is on Namor's hitlist. We get a huge car/motorcycle chase as the CIA is also trying to bring her in but we see Riri showing off her prototype Ironheart suit. But just as the trio make their escape Uttuma and Namora show up in style on a whale. We get a brief showdown on the bridge, but they retreat and escape back to Wakanda. This very public battle puts Wakanda in a terrible public light and Okoye gets blamed for it, (maybe Queen Ramonda was against the mission, but Shuri talked her into it).
Okoye is dismissed and her titles are revoked, no longer the leader of the Dora Milaje or the armies of Wakanda. At the worst possible time. Aneka possibly takes over her role but would make sense for it to be Ayo. This is when Namor and the Talokaneans (? Talokanians?) show up to strike first on Wakanda. Namor tells Queen Ramonda to hand over Riri Williams or die, and our noble queen refuses to hand over a kid.
Wakanda is flooded. In such a surprise attack without their general Wakanda is overrun by the superhuman strength of the Talokanians. Namor easily takes out airships, and M'Baku and the Jabari arrive to help but even the mighty M'Baku is taken down.
Wakanda's Golden City is flooded, and all efforts are moved to saving everyone and retreating to the mountains of Jabari Land. This is where we get a very emotional scene of Shuri with her dying mother Ramonda. M'Baku takes charge of the retreat, we see scenes of Okoye and Nakia saving people, maybe a certain child.
This is Shuri's deciding moment and she finally takes up the mantle and responsibility she has been too remorseful to claim. Shuri takes the heart shaped herb, and we get the montage played alongside Riri building herself a new Ironheart suit. Shuri gets her own dream sequence of going to the ancestral plane and I am very curious how they choose to handle this without Chadwick.
We get a scene of M'Baku holding court discussing why they can't retaliate or try to kill Namor because it would start an endless war. This is where Shuri arrives in style falling through the steep ceiling mirroring the opening jump that T'Challa did in the first film. She tells every one of their new plans and assumes her rightful position as Queen and protector of Wakanda, but I believe she gives a speech about how she is not alone in being its protector. The Black Panther was never alone in protecting the nation, every single one of them is Wakanda's protector.
The plan is to draw out Namor and his forces by sailing out into the ocean like they are attacking. (I think heading back to the island from earlier in the movie because it possibly is revealed the island sits near Talokan). Once the battle starts, they surprise them with their preparedness and try to draw Namor out, then separate him from his troops by Riri blasting him with her suit forcing him down on the island where they can use some form of technology to negate the masks the other Talokanians wear and use to breathe on the surface. Separate from his army Namor fights Shuri, Nakia, and Okoye (it is possible Aneka and the Midnight Angels too are waiting on the island as well, but I think they are more than likely on the ship fighting alongside M'Baku and the Jabari/River tribes). I think the final battle area could also be part of Talokan, like possible the way they separate him is by going after something there.
This is showing the might of Wakanda and making Namor bend the knee calling off his attacks. I believe Namor could respect their strength and know he should not attack but I think they also could have a reveal of Ross stopping whatever CIA agent that sabotaged Riri's equipment to draw them into a war so they could get to the Vibranium. I believe the movie ends with Shuri on the throne with some sort of remembrance of those who have come before her, specifically Chadwick. Maybe we see the rebuilding process happening and they replace the two statues we see them walking towards in the funeral procession, with T'Challa and Ramonda.
Theories
Return of
At the end of the first Black Panther film Killmonger tells T'Challa to bury him at sea with his ancestors who jumped from the ships because he refused to become a slave or prisoner to Wakanda. Now, let us assume that he respected his wishes and gave him a funeral at sea. What if the Talokan's saw it happen and somehow revived him? If they have anywhere similar Vibranium technology or their own versions, I do not think it would be too wild of an idea. T'Challa could have immediately brought Killmonger up to a ship and flew his body out to sea, and with the power of the Heart Shaped Herb still in his system he could be strong enough to be revived. Especially if he still had the Golden Jaguar suit on where it potentially is waterproof.
Namor's Staff/Spear is made of Adamantium setting up...
We know Wakanda has the primary source of Vibranium on Earth, but it seems that Talokan might have their own source of the world's strongest metal. But what if it isn't Vibranium? What if Talokan mirrors Wakanda and is built not on the metal that vibrations can do no harm, but actually the strongest metal on Earth in Adamantium. Previously these two metals were one in the same, but Vibranium was created as a separate metal, while Adamantium famously is what coats Wolverine's skeleton and what his claws are made out of. This could be a really cool way to introduce the metal to the MCU, as well as I think the CIA connection COULD be setting up Agent Smitty taking some of the metal back to those in charge of the Weapon X program because they are trying to get more after using all that they had on Wolverine.
Ironheart = Iron Lad
I think it was clear they were initially going to try to make the kid from Iron Man 3 into Iron Lad, even bringing him back for Tony's funeral in Avengers: Endgame but at some point, plans changed. Spoilers for Iron Lad and Young Avengers comics, but Iron Lad is revealed at one point to be Nathaniel Richards, the person who would one day become Kang the Conqueror. Now what if the MCU is twisting certain characters together like they love to do and are turning Riri Williams aka Ironheart into the founding member of Young Avengers like Iron Lad was and turning her into some version of a Kang variant. We learned in the Disney+ show Loki that variants do NOT have to be the same age, sex, or even from the same time period as other variants. The eventual reveal of Riri being a Kang variant would be a really cool twist.
Phase 4 Meaning
With Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe coming to a close, I believe we can finally pinpoint what the purpose and theme of this phase was. Kevin Feige himself said Phase 4 was like Phase 1 and was about introducing so many amazing new characters to the MCU but what was the common theme? What was it all about?
With great power comes great responsibility
If you have the ability to help someone out, no matter how big or how small you are responsible for helping. But great power and responsibility does not just talk about those doing good, Wanda had great power but failed to take proper responsibility for it and enslaved a town then threatened and tried to kill a kid to steal their powers. Captain America Sam Wilson talked about the responsibility of those in charge have over protecting the people, how the Flag Smashers cause itself was right they were treated terribly but they went about it the wrong way. Loki was obsessed with the ultimate power the TVA seems to hold and wanted it for himself but learned through Mobius he has never taken responsibility in his life and when it came time to be handed the power over time itself, he tried to take responsibility finally and to not throw everything into chaos. Black Widow discusses how terrible people in power have taken advantage and abused women secretly forever but are hidden via conspiracies and operating in the shadows. Shang-Chi talked about how you are responsible to your family, and how the power of the Ten Rings was abused for generations by his father. Eternals is a big one showing these near immortal beings learn they were misled and have just been sitting by on the sidelines not taking responsibility and actually turning human life into a peaceful existence and Druig exemplified this. Hawkeye was about Clint teaching Kate that being a hero is not something to be taken lightly as well as breaking down with Yelena as he feels responsible for the death of his best friend and her sister. Spider-Man, no need to really go into it as it was literally Aunt May's dying plea to Peter. Moon Knight showed how even the gods have been abusing their great power taking advantage of their human avatar while showing Marc wrestle with his grief as he feels responsible for his brother's death. Multiverse of Madness showed over and over that if you have power you are responsible for taking care of those around you and showed how a corrupt version of Doctor Strange would simply decide to forgo his responsibility and to take America's powers. Ms. Marvel thrust a teenage girl into feeling like she is responsible to help her Djinn family to return home but showed how people will try to take advantage of those trying to help, but that does not mean you stop helping people. Thor Love and Thunder also shows how the gods neglected their responsibilities and how doing so not just corrupts them but can corrupt others as well leading to Gorr. She-Hulk showed Jen wrestle with the idea of being a hero and how she did not want to step up and become more than just a lawyer, she is in the unique position of helping people in and outside of the courtroom even better than Matt can because she is a Hulk.
I know that was very much a run on paragraph and I apologize but just wanted to illustrate the point. With great power comes great responsibility. Phase 4 was incredible, and I can't wait to finally get to see the final film of the phase, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. As well as the Guardians Christmas special that wraps up the phase.
Thank you so much for reading please be sure to share with your friends on social media, I am self-obsessed and love the clicks. Speaking of me being self-obsessed be sure to follow me on Twitter @HaroldLStokes !
