Please, understand me and the Tomas Elias Gonzalez Benitez fanboy that lives in me. Here it goes.
It is possibly (and with the permission of Avatar: the sense of water), the most anticipated movie to end the year. Wakanda Forever, the second part of Black Panther, is also the last film in Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and faced an added difficulty: its protagonist, Chadwick Boseman, died of cancer before he had a chance to shoot the film.
That changed Marvel's plans for the movie, and of course it changed the script. It was necessary to find a replacement for T'Challa, with the difficulty that the heart-shaped herb that grants Black Panther's powers had been destroyed in the first installment, so the scenario for finding a replacement is complicated.
An origin story
All this has led to Black Panther being what we didn't have in the first installment: an origin story (aren't we already tired of superhero origin stories?). One of the great "mysteries" of the film, although quite obvious, was precisely who would take the baton from T'Challa and don the Black Panther suit. I even came to read people betting on the return of Michael B. Jordan as Killmonger to put the suit back on.
However, the first promotional images of the new Black Panther already made it clear, even to the least observant, who was going to replace T'Challa as protector of Wakanda.
From here, SPOILERS!
Continue reading at your own risk
A less memorable enemy than we would have liked
The villain of this film is Namor, who unlike the comics (where the city is Atlantis), is the ruler of Tialocan, an underwater nation located next to the Yucatan Peninsula that sees its existence in danger after the revelation of Wakanda and the existence of vibranium to the world.
I am Venezuelan and I was very curious about this Latin representation in Marvel. On the one hand, I liked the strength and real threat that Namor poses, as well as his origin story. But nevertheless, I think that Tialocan and Namor have stayed halfway of what they could have been.
Mourning and revenge
This is caused, possibly, because Black Panther is a story of mourning and revenge, where the main protagonist is Shuri, T'Challa's little sister. In the first minutes of the film we see her fail in the attempt to save his life, which leads her to an identity crisis and to accumulate anger for the death of the person she loved the most.
While she mourns, and her mother takes the lead of Wakanda and Namor and Tialocan emerge as a menace to Wakanda and the World, who don't hesitate to murder anyone than can be against them
In this context, she is forced to go to the United States to rescue Riri Williams (who will take the role of IronHeart, the successor of Ironman), a young genius who has created a vibranium detector machine and whose life is threatened by the people of Namor. She then begins a journey of discovery, where her desire for revenge and her rage will collide with the pacifist spirit of Wakanda and her own brother.
The opinion of Tomás Elías González Benítez
I'm a huge fan of the MCU, as you all know, and I really wanted to see Wakanda Forever. However, this movie has left me very cold. I am not able to empathize with Shuri's suffering or decisions, Riri Williams seems very lose out to me, like Namor and Tialocan.
It is an unnecessarily long movie. We didn't need to know where Namor comes from (it seems rather that they tell us as a justification for them being Mexican) and in general I would say that the script suffers many consequences from the absence of T'Challa and his forced replacement by Shuri.
Giving a memorable performance is Angela Basset as Queen Ramonda, a strong woman from whom life has taken too much and yet she remains at the head of her nation defending its own interests and those of humanity for the way.
Where does this movie leave us?
Wakanda Forever ends with a revealing post-credits scene: Shuri goes to Haiti to visit Nakia and discovers that she has a nephew, named T'Challa, like his father. Considering that Marvel is paving the way for the Young Avengers (Kate Bishop, Ms. Marvel, Wiccan, Riri Williams, Cassie Lang, Eli Bradley, Kid Loki, America Chavez), it's not unreasonable to think that little T'Challa he will be the true heir to the title of Black Panther, while his aunt will be in charge of maintaining control during his childhood.
Also it is very interesting the appearance of Vallentina Allegra de Fontaine, whom we have already seen in Black Widow and Falcon and the Winter Soldier, manipulating and recruiting her own heroes. Now we discover that she is the director of the CIA (and ex-wife of Everett Ross, the agent friend of Wakanda), so the base of what will be the Thunderbolts movie begins to be built.
Thunderbolts: The Avengers that Kevin Feige gives us.
The director de Fontaine has been acting as Nick Fury in this phase 4, assembling the alternative group to The Avengers, the Thunderbolts. It is a concept similar to DC's Suicide Squad: villains redeemed or in need of a commutation of sentences who are going to act outside the law for the Government.
The film was confirmed at the last San Diego ComicCon, along with the cast (and therefore heroes) that would star in it: Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier), Yelena Belova (Black Widow), Red Guardian, Taskmaster, US Agent and Ghost ( the villain of Ant-Man and the Wasp). As we can see, three of them come from the movie Black Widow, and two of them from the Falcon and the Winter Soldier series. It is not exactly a very heterogeneous group.
In fact, this has been one of the biggest complaints fans have had: Abomination, Captain Thunderbolt Ross, and Baron Zemo were expected to be present. In fact, just over a month ago it was confirmed that Thunderbolt Ross and the Red Hulk will appear in Captain America 4: New World Order. Since Captain America is released two months before Thunderbolts, it is to be expected that the captain Ross will appear (if only to lead the group) and who knows if his alter ego Red Hulk will as well.
Conclusion: Wakanda Forever is a nice icing on the cake for Phase 4
I know what you will say: Tomás Elías González, you are too much of a Marvel fan. And you may be right. But it seems to me that in a subtle way, without giving it excessive importance, it has contributed to doing its bit to the MCU and to the advancement of Marvel's plans for its MCU.
I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.
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