AWOL heroes, messy geography, and a final challenge with real-world ramifications — is
it us, or does none of this make much sense?
So the Black Panther is dead; Wakanda has lost its superhero.
And yet Wakanda Forever takes unnecessary pains to insist that the country is unprotected
without him.
The thing is, though, T'Challa's death didn't make a dent in the Dora Milaje, the army of
the most fearsome female warriors in the world, capable of going toe-to-toe with super-soldiers
such as Bucky Barnes.
Wakanda's fleet of battleships still exists, too, and their weapons contain nigh-indestructible vibranium.
Also, Ramonda, the mother who taught T'Challa so much, is still there, as is the genius-level
sister who provided him with all his technology.
Let's not forget the nation's force fields and cloaking devices, either.
Even without the heart-shaped herb to make its warriors superhuman, Wakanda created the
technology to make panther suits that can absorb and fire energy blasts.
They're not exactly underpowered.
The idea that Wakanda is now so much more vulnerable is a strange one, and the MCU certainly
didn't spin this take on America when Steve Rogers disappeared.
"Wakanda Forever!"
Chadwick Boseman's death blindsided Marvel fans and most of his coworkers.
The general public never knew that he had stage four colon cancer, and there's no telling
what may have happened if his illness had become public knowledge.
Boseman learned he had stage three cancer after the release of Captain America: Civil
War, but powered on regardless, starring in a number of movies while he was sick.
It's a tragic and inspiring story — but the movie arguably doesn't quite do it justice.
From a narrative perspective, it doesn't really work to have T'Challa suddenly die from an
unspecified terminal illness in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
His family and friends seemingly know nothing about his condition, and the movie relies
on its audience accepting a conceit that mirrors Boseman's life.
The story doesn't even make an effort to have it make sense within the confines of the MCU.
Obviously, the loss of Boseman himself placed a limit on what could be portrayed on screen.
Still, the character deserves a better exit than an unspecified disease with origins nobody
discusses — one that never affects the plot again.
A little more finessing of story beats, and maybe some more plot relevance for the disease
that killed T'Challa, could have accounted for this problem without too much extra fuss.
Like many fictional nations, the exact location of Wakanda tends to vary, with each comic
writer placing it exactly where they think it needs to be.
One thing that is true in the MCU, though, is that it has never been a coastal nation.
Both Marvel's Black Panther: The Art of the Movie and the televised map in Captain America:
Civil War show that, while there are one or two great lakes around, Wakanda is totally landlocked.
Additionally, there's a protective force field over the whole country, which further begs
the question: How does Namor get into Wakanda if he's coming from the Atlantic Ocean?
Let's accept Namor's first appearance in a lake.
Maybe that lake is in the part of Wakanda that is not protected by a force field.
So Namor swam inland through rivers, having crossed the Atlantic, and came up in this
Wakandan lake — he's a superhero, so it's possible.
Still, that doesn't explain how he and his forces entered the protected capital city
when they knew he was coming.
Didn't anyone think of damming the rivers?
Why does a country that can keep out Thanos' monsters with its energy shields struggle
to prevent a dude from swimming upstream?
Three years ago, T'Challa and his finest warriors helped the Avengers destroy Thanos, who wanted
to wipe out half of all life in the universe.
Now that his people could use an assist with an invading force, where are all the other
heroes to return the favor?
Yes, Tony Stark is dead.
Steve Rogers is AWOL, too, and, being totally fair, a few other heroes have got their own
stuff going on.
"And they lived happily ever after."
Still, Ant-Man and the Wasp are free.
Thor and his newly adopted daughter, Love, pretty much spend all their time fighting
invading armies.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier have stayed in close touch with Wakanda, too, and are
fond of preserving world peace and fighting racial inequities.
Maybe you could argue that these guys aren't up to date on the latest news.
And while Namor swears Queen Ramonda to secrecy, that deal surely expired the moment he attacked Wakanda.
Marvel doesn't have a Bat-signal, but Wakanda has futuristic technology, which should include communications.
Certainly, if Contessa Valentina knows enough to tap Ross' phone, wouldn't Nick Fury be
aware enough of what's happening to send someone to help?
Obviously, there is a real world explanation for this.
Wakanda Forever isn't filled with star-studded cameos because it's impractical to plan out
with actors' varying schedule commitments — and because Ant-Man wouldn't exactly be
a natural fit with the movie's tone.
As we know from Black Panther, the final step in the coronation of a new ruler and Black
Panther involves the next in line taking a potion that removes the heart-shaped herb's
powers, before battling anyone who wishes to challenge them for the throne.
Shuri, minus her superpowers, might have a tough time with that.
Yet that doesn't matter, because Shuri doesn't even show up.
Instead, she heads off to Haiti to hang with Nakia, and M'Baku shows up, saying he's ready
to face the challenge.
So is he Shuri's proxy?
Is that even allowed?
Or is he showing up to challenge her claim and win by forfeit because she feels bad about
taking the mantle in anger?
There's a better-than-average chance this scene was a reshoot, hedging Marvel's bets
in case Letitia Wright proved too much of a problem.
Wright's vaccine views garnered controversy on social media and may or may not have contributed
to visa issues during production.
By leaving the M'Baku challenge scene ambiguous, Marvel allows room for Winston Duke to be
the next Black Panther if they opt not to continue with Wright.
Confusing things even further, Winston Duke claimed that M’Baku is in fact the new king
of Wakanda in an interview with Esquire, saying:
As we've already seen, this is a franchise that is prepared to adjust to any changes
caused by real-life events.