Here is how 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' handles Chadwick Boseman's death in the film

Here is how 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' handles Chadwick Boseman's death in the film
  • "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" is now available to stream on Disney+.

  • Chadwick Boseman, who played the lead character, T'Challa, in the first film, died in 2020.

  • The franchise addresses this by killing off T'Challa and showing Wakanda mourning his death.

T'Challa dies in the first scene from an "undisclosed illness."

black panther t'challa
T'Challa dies off-screen.Marvel

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" opens with a chaotic scene in which Shuri (Letitia Wright) is trying to recreate the heart-shaped herb seen in the first movie in order to save her brother T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman).

Shuri comes up with a rushed solution and attempts to run to her brother, however, Ramonda (Angela Bassett), their mother, arrives and tells the princess that T'Challa is gone.

This scene is incredibly impactful since, like Boseman in real life, the character didn't die in a fight or for supernatural reasons. It was a very sudden, human death.

While Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016, four years before his death, he kept his illness secret and continued to act in numerous movies.

Boseman's death, on August 28, 2020, was sudden to many people, just as T'Challa's death was sudden in the movie.

After his death, the film shows a funeral for T'Challa.

A mural of T'Challa in the first teaser trailer for "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."
A mural of T'Challa in the first teaser trailer for "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."Marvel Studios

The movie next shows a Wakandan funeral for T'Challa.

First, his inner circle and elders have a private ceremony outside the city center. T'Challa's coffin, which has an image on it of the Black Panther in the signature "Wakanda Forever" pose, is then picked up and brought to the city center where everyone is dancing and paying homage.

Since the Wakandans believe in the Ancestral Plane, a form of the afterlife where ancestors live, the scene feels like they are parading T'Challa into eternal life. Everyone is dressed in white for this ceremony.

Eventually, he is brought to a central place where he is lowered to the ground.

A Wakandan plane then takes the coffin and raises him to the sky.

The film uses the Chadwick Boseman Marvel logo sequence that was created after his death.

Chadwick Boseman's Marvel Studios sequence
The sequence includes pictures of Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa and behind-the-scene videos.Disney+

Before every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, there is a credits sequence that shows clips of all the main characters in the franchise.

In November 2020, a couple of months after Chadwick Boseman died, a special sequence was created dedicated to the "Black Panther" actor and his role in the MCU.

This sequence was first used for the original "Black Panther" on Disney+.

 

Even after his death, Shuri struggles to grieve and move on.

Shuri in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
Shuri (Letitia Wright) mourning the death of her brother.Marvel Studios

After the title credits, there is a time jump of one year, but the film does not move on from T'Challa's death.

The film portrays multiple ways of grieving and processing death through those close to T'Challa.

Shuri spends most of the movie angry at the sudden loss and tries to avoid moving on by focusing on her work.

In an interview with Variety, Letitia Wright said that she also tried to bury herself in work "hiding out in New Mexico" after Boseman's death.

Wanting Shuri to move on, Ramonda tries to get her to perform a ritual.

Ramonda and Shuri in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
Some details in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" are only noticed upon a second watch.Marvel Studios

Early in the movie, Ramonda tries to help Shuri move on.

First, she tries to get her to meditate and claims that she was able to see her son when she did it. Shuri dismisses this as imagination since she is a person of science.

Ramonda then attempts to make Shuri do a Wakandan ritual for the end of the mourning period. The ritual is where people burn their funeral clothes so that they can move on. Shuri refuses since she is still clouded by her anger and grief.

Ramonda appears to keep her cool but is also mourning privately.

Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Ramonda gives a speech at the UN.Marvel Studios

Bassett portrays Ramonda as a stoic queen for most of the film, confident even as she threatens the entire United Nations.

However, there is one scene in which Ramonda lets her guard down in public after Shuri is captured by the Talokan kingdom.

Ramonda strips Okoye of her rank as general and when she tries to protest, she gives a powerful speech, part of which was included in the first "Wakanda Forever" trailer.

"I am queen of the most powerful nation in the world, and my entire family is gone. Have I not given everything?" Ramonda says.

 

Meanwhile, Nakia appears to have fled to Haiti and is mourning T'Challa on her own.

T'Challa and Nakia in "Black Pather."
T'Challa and Nakia in "Black Panther."Marvel Studios

Meanwhile, T'Challa's lover, Nakia, appears to have fled Wakanda and now has a new life in Haiti.

Nakia, who survived the blip at the end of "Infinity War," will have mourned T'Challa during the five years he was snapped out of existence, and then mourned him again when he died at the beginning of "Wakanda Forever."

While there is a plausible explanation for Nakia fleeing Wakanda and not returning in the mid-credits scene, her avoiding returning home depicts an alternative method of grieving.

Shuri reveals that T'Challa kept his illness hidden for some time, which seems to reflect Boseman's story.

Chadwick Boseman
Chadwick Boseman and his wife Simone Ledward Boseman.Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

During a heart-to-heart with her antagonist Namor, Shuri reveals that her brother suffered in silence and did not tell anyone about his illness for a long time. This is similar to Boseman's actual story since he kept his colon cancer diagnosis private from everyone but close friends and family.

As the final battle approaches, Shuri finally recreates the heart-shaped herb and becomes the Black Panther.

Shuri as the Black Panther in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."
Shuri as the Black Panther in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."Marvel Studios

Using a gift from Namor, Shuri is able to recreate the heart-shaped herb and become the new Black Panther. While it is necessary for the plot for her to take the mantle, it feels symbolic that Wright, who was close to Boseman and even looked up to him like a brother, is the next person to take on the mantle.

The film's final scene pays tribute to Boseman as Shuri finally comes to terms with T'Challa's death.

Black Panther Wakanda Forever
Shuri in the Talokan kingdom.Annette Brown / Marvel Studios

In the final scene, Shuri decides to finally complete Ramonda's ritual to move on from T'Challa's death. She goes to Haiti so that Nakia can help her and then proceeds to burn her funeral outfit. The film focuses on her face as she cries while a montage of scenes of T'Challa and T'Challa and Shuri together shows on the screen.

This seems to be the final touching sendoff to Boseman.

T'Challa's legacy gets to continue through his son.

T'Challa and Nakia return home in "Black Panther"
Nakia and T'Challa had a son, Touissant/T'Challa, together before he died a second time.Marvel Studios / Disney+

In the mid-credits scene, it is revealed that T'Challa and Nakia had a son and Nakia has been raising him secretly in Haiti. In the scene, Nakia reveals their son, also called T'Challa, to Shuri.

Not only does this allow T'Challa's comic book stories to still be told on screen through his son, but the MCU also gets to honor Boseman by not recasting the character outright.

In addition, Boseman's legacy gets to live on through a new young Black actor. Since Boseman was and continues to be such an inspirational Black figure in Hollywood, it feels apt that the baton gets to be passed on to a new young actor.

Read the original article on Insider