[MUSIC PLAYING]
There's a new Black Panther with a new look in Marvel
Studios' "Black Panther--
Wakanda Forever."
So to get the scoop on the suit, I'm
talking with Marvel Studios head of visual development Ryan
Meinerding. Hi, Ryan.
Hello.
Well, let's jump in.
Shuri's new Black Panther suit is an incredible take
on an already iconic suit, so as you started work on this film,
how did you approach this new design?
RYAN MEINERDING: One of the great things about Shuri
in the first "Black Panther" movie was that she had, like,
pretty amazing iconic looks across the board,
some that Ruth Carter designed, some
that the visual development team designed.
We were trying to look at pretty early
on with how to translate some of those things
into the Black Panther suit.
And I think with Shuri, we were trying to find almost
a slightly more fierce look.
I think we were trying to evolve her into a character
where she was stepping into the mantle in a way that was
tremendously her own and that involved
becoming a sort of more fierce version of Black Panther.
It's such an awesome design.
What were some of the key visual elements you and the team
were looking to incorporate?
In terms of the overall aesthetic of the suit,
it's kind of the same as the other Panther
suits where we're trying to make it as skintight to her body
as possible so it feels flexible.
It feels like she can be acrobatic.
She can be strong and powerful.
It doesn't have to have any sort of restrictions on her at all.
You know, one of the things that Ryan Coogler had asked
for is sort of maybe even weaponry or, you know,
starting with her Panther gauntlets becoming even larger
or because she is, you know, obviously a technology expert,
the tech became added on and those things got bulkier
and almost made the suit look more
powerful through having technology
as part of a visual language.
But as we got into it we did realize
we had so many amazing visual reference points from Shuri
in the previous movie that we were kind of hearkening
back to those a lot.
I think the biggest sort of change
in the suit in the previous designs
is fundamentally the boldness of the design language
as well as the Panther gauntlets and a few pieces of gold
around her shoulders that are a little bit stronger
and meant to give her a little bit more
of a shoulder silhouette than she
would have had without them.
Well, you packed so many amazing details into this suit.
How many iterations of Shuri's suit
did the team create before settling on the final design?
We probably had 50 or 60 different designs.
I think there was a lot of really amazing things
to play with, and having the comics as a base
but also having those amazing appearances
in the first movie as a place to start
was basically where we began.
I think we ended up landing on one that
had that sort of fierce look with things that represented
Panther teeth both on the top and bottom of her jaw
and specifically pulling from her warrior
falls look where she had a number of white dots
painted on her face.
We were trying to turn those into sort of graphic elements
that are done in silver, and then finding all those things
integrated into one cohesive look
was one of the more fun parts of the process.
And, again, bringing that gold and silver in to sort of
say that she's now at a place where she's
stepping into the mantle, taking on all
of the burden of where her country is at
and trying to save the day.
Now, of course, Shuri isn't the first person
we've seen take on the mantle of the Black Panther.
Are there any parts of this design
that referenced previous Black Panther suits?
One of the fun things about Marvel Studios and Marvel
comics is that there are characters that
have these sort of mantles that can get passed
from one character to another.
That symbol of that mantle becomes
different and changed in some way when the new character
takes it over.
The suits that we start with end up meaning something,
and then how they translate into the next film and the next film
all seem to like become useful in the storytelling going
forward.
And when we were working on the Black Panther suit for "Civil
War," that ended up being sort of
termed sort of T'Challa's suit.
I think in the "Black Panther" movie where T'Challa explains
to Shuri that was what he had developed,
and Shuri creates that suit in "Black Panther," right.
And Killmonger ends up taking that gold suit
and sort of making it his own at the end of that film.
Essentially, the suit that Shuri ends up with
is kind of a combination between T'Challa's
suit and Killmonger's suit, a mix of the silver and the gold.
That's the Panther she needed to become in order to be
able to fight Namor at the end.
There are some subtle nods to each one of those suits
in the final design, but it really
is as simple as the color schemes being the silver
and the gold being the two things.
There is a bit of through line for her representing
her fallen brother as well as probably
begrudgingly representing things she needed
to learn from Killmonger.
So, Ryan, what did it mean to you
to be able to continue the legacy
of the Black Panther in the MCU through a new character
and this new design.
RYAN MEINERDING: The fact that we
were able to work on Shuri in "Black Panther"
and to see her sort of transition into a full on Black
Panther of her own in "Black Panther--
Wakanda Forever," it was an amazing experience.
Like, the idea of watching that character take on a mantle
do things that she didn't think she could do, try to live up
to her brother's memory, for me, it's
to have been part of this journey of watching
this character become beloved by the audience and the fans
and trying to figure out how Shuri can feel like she's
taking that mantle and carrying it forward
was an incredible experience.
I am the Black Panther, and I'm here for retribution.
Well, you and the whole team really
did an amazing job, Brian.
Thank you so much for talking with us.
Thank you. It was great to be here.
Thank you so much.
LANGSTON BELTON: And, of course, everyone go experience Marvel
Studios' "Black Panther--
Wakanda Forever" in theaters now.