By: Aliya Koshalieva

Graphics Editor

Four years after its predecessor smashed records, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever finally landed in theaters. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the last installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Four, is the sequel to Black Panther. The film was the number-one movie for the third week in a row, bringing the worldwide box office to 682.8 million dollars. 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever tells the story of Wakanda and the Wakandan Royal Family after the death of their king and Black Panther, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman). Ryan Coogler, the director, wrote in the death of T’Challa after Boseman passed away following a four-year battle with stage IV colon cancer. Boseman kept his illness a secret, even from top Marvel executives and Ryan Coogler. After his passing, fans theorized if T’Challa would be recast or brought back to life using CGI, but Marvel confirmed T’Challa would not appear in the film. 

As shown in the opening scene, T’Challa contracts and dies from a mysterious disease following the events of Avengers: Endgame. Typically Marvel movie intros feature select scenes from the film with the intro music playing in the background. This time around, the intro was silent and had scenes only with Boseman. The entire theater was silent. T’Challa’s death meant his mother, Queen Ramonda – and later on, his sister Shuri – must rule Wakanda. However, several countries are hunting for Vibranium, the strongest metal in the world found only in Wakanda. At this point, Namor introduces himself as the leader of Talokan, an underground Latin indigenous kingdom. The plot revolves around the Wakandans protecting RiRi Williams (Dominique Thorne), an MIT student who has created an underwater Vibranium tracker that threatens to reveal the existence of Talokan to the world. The mid-credit scene shows that T’Challa had a son with Nakia, named T’Challa, but known as Toussaint. 

I knew this movie would be emotional, and as an emotional person, I thought I would last a solid hour before the tears would fall. I was wrong; the waterworks came less than a minute into the movie. I cried several times during the film. The acting is very realistic and made me experience every human emotion possible. This movie is definitely the best movie from Phase Four. The cinematography and VFX are beautiful, and the plot is cohesive and entertaining. The film was amazing, and just is the perfect tribute to T’Challa and Boseman. 

(Sources: Rotten Tomatoes, Variety, Box Office Mojo)