(For Day 26 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a portrait poem focused on the meaning of someone’s name. I decided to write mine as a eulogy for the MCU’s Black Panther and, by extension, the late Chadwick Boseman, including the meaning of his character T’Challa’s name.)

The mighty Black Panther, both hero and king,
Was true to tradition but not to a fault.
He knew his position so many exalt,
And yet he was gracious,
His heart ever spacious,
Intent to be balm on the wider world’s sting.

Black was the Panther, like so many sheep,
Scattered and battered in nations far-flung.
He fought for his people, his country unsung,
But knew there were others,
His sisters and brothers,
With wounds he could help heal, no matter how deep.

A Panther he was, unassuming but fierce,
A predator set on avenging the wronged.
And “he who put the knife where it belonged”
Defined you by name:
T’Challa, who came
To sheathe where he could and know whom to pierce.

The mighty Black Panther is with us no more;
He died as he lived, without pity or fear.
We trust those who pass never quite disappear,
And if our hearts break,
It is for a king’s sake,
A legacy no one can ever ignore.
_______________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

I can imagine how hard it was for writer-director Ryan Coogler to develop a follow-up to the 2018 smash hit Black Panther without his star Chadwick Boseman, who died unexpectedly after a hidden battle with colon cancer. Yet deliver he did. After the unsatisfying horror of Dr. Strange 2 and the hammy humor of Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was a welcome return to gravitas, giving hope that 2022 wasn’t a total bust for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

After T’Challa dies off-screen from an unspecified illness in the opening scene, his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) and mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) are left to grieve and try to pick up the roles he left behind: monarch, leader, and superhero. While Wakanda was believed to be the only source of renowned super-metal vibranium, it is discovered that the secret underwater kingdom of Talokan also has it, as well as their own empowered defender in the mutant known as Namor, who will stop at nothing to maintain his nation’s secrecy.

It’s probably no surprise that Wakanda Forever doesn’t quite live up to the bar set by its predecessor. While the plot is overlong and sometimes bogged down by its dour tone and plot digressions, it manages to deliver some great performances and one of the MCU’s best character arcs. Shuri was a likable side character in the first film, but Letitia Wright really steps up here to pick up the Black Panther mantle, making her journey of grief and vengeance quite believable and poignant. Likewise, Angela Bassett has some powerful scenes as the matriarch of an increasingly broken family, and I do tend to agree she was robbed at the Oscars (though I could say the same for Stephanie Hsu, no offense to Jamie Lee Curtis). Tenoch Huerta is an outstanding addition to the MCU as Namor, offering a subtle ruthlessness that is somewhat justifiable from his mistrustful perspective.

While the film delves further into Namor’s backstory than needed, I see what they were going for in setting him and Talokan up as a dark mirror of Wakanda, taking their former xenophobia to a retaliatory extreme, not unlike Killmonger before. With so much subtext alongside the globe-hopping action and new characters (like Dominique Thorne’s Iron Man wannabe Riri Williams), the film can feel overstuffed and distinct from the more fun entries in the Marvel canon. Yet I found a lot to admire, particularly Shuri’s character progression and the deferential tribute to Boseman and T’Challa.

It took me longer than most to warm up to the first Black Panther, which I didn’t personally connect to, but this film helped me realize how highly I still regard these films, in contrast to the latest Thor movie. We’ll never know what a sequel with Boseman would have looked like, but, considering his absence, I consider Wakanda Forever a worthy successor.

Best line: (Namor) “Only the most broken people can be great leaders.”

Rank: List-Worthy (alongside the first, which has already replaced the Thor films on the List)

© 2023 S.G. Liput
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