Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler opens up on the sequel looking different from the first installment. Phase 4 is reaching its end in 2022, with She-Hulk: Attorney at Law season 1 only having a few episodes left to air on Disney+ while Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will serve as the last film before Phase 5 begins in 2023. However, unlike any MCU TV show or film that has come in the last few years, the Black Panther sequel will be Phase 4's most emotional one.
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While Chadwick Boseman brought T'Challa to the big screen, the 43-year-old actor sadly passed away on August 28, 2020 from colon cancer. Despite his death, the Black Panther franchise is moving forward after the first film collected $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office and became a smash hit with critics. In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the story follows T'Challa's family and allies dealing with the king's passing as their kingdom is invaded, while also tackling a new threat in the form of Namor, who is finally making his MCU debut.
As Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is arriving in theaters next month, the film will be different in many regards, including its look. In a new interview with EW, Coogler spoke about loss being a crucial theme to the story, but also how the addition of anamorphic lenses plays into that element from a technical standpoint. For Coogler, who also helmed the first Black Panther movie, they wanted the sequel to "feel tactile," sharing the following:
"I think this film has the fog of loss over it, and anamorphic lenses warp the image a little bit. Sometimes when you go through profound loss, it can warp how you look at the world. What we were after was just making it feel tactile, even though it felt like a dream. The film should feel like a really wild dream that you would have, but where everything felt like it was really there."
Why Loss Is A Main Theme In Black Panther 2
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever putting loss as a core theme in its story is warranted not just for the MCU, but also the real world. Boseman's portrayal of T'Challa became synonymous with the character, especially as the comic book movie genre is still lacking the representation of diverse superheroes. When Black Panther became a billion-dollar success for Marvel Studios, it marked a historical moment for the genre, as T'Challa became a huge player with mainstream audiences. While it's unclear what caused T'Challa to pass away in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it only makes sense for loss to be the main beat of the story, as the characters and audiences grieve the hero and Boseman's death.
Given the severity of what happened to Boseman in real life, it feels fair to assume that Coogler, Kevin Feige and the entire creative team behind Black Panther: Wakanda Forever did the best they could to end T'Challa's story in an honorable way. Since they didn't want to recast T'Challa, it's safe to say that the MCU will likely never revisit the character through Multiverse Variants. Since Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is seemingly making Shuri the new Black Panther, she will honor T'Challa's legacy while becoming a heroine in her own right. However they are doing it, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will certainly pull millions of heartstrings as the MCU bids farewell to T'Challa.