Overview
How do you jump back into a superhero saga — a caped-crusader franchise within a sprawling, seemingly never-ending franchise, too — without your star? When Black Panther: Wakanda Forever arrives in cinemas in November, Marvel Cinematic Universe fans will find out. With Chadwick Boseman sadly passing away in 2020, the sequel to 2018's excellent Black Panther obviously isn't the film that returning writer/director Ryan Coogler (Creed) originally intended. Based on the just-dropped first teaser trailer, it's going to be unsurprisingly emotional, however.
Marvel released the initial sneak peek at the eagerly awaited movie during this year's San Diego Comic-Con, and it's big on swirling, swelling feelings. "I am queen of the most powerful nation in the world, and my entire family is gone," exclaims Ramonda (Angela Bassett, Gunpowder Milkshake), T'Challa and Shuri's (Letitia Wright, Death on the Nile) mother, in a particularly climactic moment.
While the teaser isn't overly concerned with Wakanda Forever's plot, it's firmly sets the mood. And yes, there's a tribute to King T'Challa among its frames.
Story-wise, Ramonda, Shuri, M'Baku (Winston Duke, Nine Days), Okoye (Danai Gurira, The Walking Dead) and the Dora Milaje (including Florence Kasumba, Deutschland89) are charged with protecting their nation from world powers after T'Challa's death — and they'll need help from War Dog Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o, The 355) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman, Breeders).
Among the cast, joining the film are Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You) and Tenoch Huerta (Narcos: Mexico) — as well as Dominique Thorne (Judas and the Black Messiah) as Riri Williams, ahead of the character's solo Disney+ series Ironheart.
Accordingly, the first glimpse at Wakanda Forever shows faces old and new, the same dazzling look and feel that was so essential to Coogler's initial film, and the Kingdom of Wakanda in a state of change.
Dropping the trailer during a wide-ranging panel session that also included the latest look at Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Marvel revealed that Wakanda Forever will wrap up the MCU's phase four — because this ever-growing on-screen superhero world is broken up into different chapters. Obviously, more caped-crusader stories are still in the works, though, with the Disney-owned entertainment behemoth also plotting out its plans across phase five and phase six, taking it up to 2025.
One thing that wasn't mentioned: the previously revealed Black Panther Disney+ series set in Wakanda that was announced in early 2021.
Check out the first Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer below:
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever releases in cinemas Down Under on November 10.