Warning: The following contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Marvel Studios lost their Black Panther when Chadwick Boseman passed away before Black Panther: Wakanda Forever could begin filming. As a result, the script had to go through a major rewrite to change the storyline, but the movie allows the cast, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe to honor Boseman and his character T’Challa.
The characters lose T’Challa in the movie just as the actors lost their friend and co-worker in real life. It allows for the movie to not only continue the legacy of the character, but to allow the audience to process their grief along with the characters. The heavy emotions of the story play out in what is still a superhero movie chock-full of Marvel Easter eggs for die-hard comic book fans as well as references for savvy MCU audiences.
The T’Challa Billboard
Fans were quick to glimpse the billboard in Wakanda’s capital city that honors the late King T’Challa in the Wakanda Forever trailer. The billboard features T’Challa’s face and writing in the Wakandan alphabet, adapted from the real-life Nsibidi language.
Much of the writing was translated by Screen Rant when the trailer debuted. The text indicates that though the king has died, he and the Black Panther legacy live on in the citizens of Wakanda. It’s the same theme that runs throughout the movie.
The Marvel Studios Opening Logo
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Following the deaths of both Stan Lee and Chadwick Boseman in recent years, Marvel has honored both of them for their contributions to the Marvel universe. Both men have had comic book covers and movie dedications in the past, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever honors Boseman again.
All the Marvel Studios projects feature brief scenes and characters from across the MCU to create the studio logo. This time, the building of the logo is not made by different characters, but all by Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa. Following that, the logo is also not in its standard red, but instead, in purple, a color that is traditionally associated with royalty, as well as Black Panther and Wakanda in the MCU.
Aneka And The Midnight Angels
Aneka is a new character introduced in Wakanda Forever. As a member of the Dora Milaje, she is trained as an elite fighter, but she’s also a bit of a rebel. That is exactly who she is in the comics as well. Aneka doesn’t always play by the rules, and it gets her in trouble in the comics and put on trial. Aneka is also in a relationship with Ayo in the comics, just as she is in the movie. Aneka also happens to be a member of an elite group of Dora Milaje called the Midnight Angels in the comics, which provides the inspiration for her new uniform.
The CNN Crawls
Typically, in the MCU, the movies see news broadcasts from WHiH news. Instead, Wakanda Forever opts to use the real CNN with Anderson Cooper at the news desk. While Cooper is busy reporting on the goings-on in Wakanda, however, there are news crawls along the bottom of the screen that might interest some fans.
The first, early in the movie, reveals that Scott Lang (that’s Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man) has been busy on a tour promoting his autobiography, which also got a mention in Ms. Marvel. Later in the movie, when Queen Ramonda’s death is reported on, the crawl references a new treaty with New Asgard, though the as the camera cuts away before more details are revealed.
M’Baku Is Still A Vegetarian
M’Baku’s entrance into a Wakandan council meeting provides a fun nod to the first Black Panther movie. He walks in with what looks like a carrot stick, periodically taking bites as he speaks. It’s a nod to him declaring the Jabari people vegetarians to Nakia, Shuri, and Ramonda in the first film, despite his tribe’s reputation for violence. His levity in the movie has a lot of people calling for M'Baku to get his own Marvel project.
Shuri Wears A Lot Of White
The first chunk of Shuri’s screen time doesn’t just see her in a white lab coat, but sees her wearing mostly white clothing on top of other clothing. This happens right up until she takes the trip to America with Okoye.
The white clothing, much like Shuri hanging onto her funeral attire instead of burning it, is a nod to the fact that she isn’t truly done mourning, despite what she tells her mother. White is traditionally worn at funerals to indicate respect for the dead in many cultures around the world, including several African nations, like Ethiopia. Shuri’s transition from white to black clothing in the movie, even before she puts on the Black Panther suit, is a nod to her beginning to deal with her grief.
Okoye’s Makeup
When Shuri and Okoye travel to America, Okoye is very worried that she isn’t wearing the right shade of makeup while out in the world. Shuri repeatedly reassures her that her makeup is just fine, and they even remark on the brand of the makeup - it’s Fenty.
While some fans might see that as a bit of product placement, the audience never actually sees Okoye applying the makeup. It’s more likely a nod to Rihanna, since the makeup line belongs to her, and she’s got music on the movie’s soundtrack after taking a significant break from recording to carry and give birth to her child.
Shuri Refuses To Help Namor
When Namor pleads his case to Shuri, wanting Wakandans to be an ally to his own people in their potential war on the surface, she refuses. Shuri has a history of refusing to help Namor in the comics, and so does her brother.
T’Challa and Namor are often rivals in the comics, and have even tried to kill one another more than once. When Shuri becomes the leader of Wakanda in the comics, and Namor tries to get her to allow his people to find refuge in Wakanda, she refuses. She refuses to aid him in any of his wars, just as her brother did before her. The refusal from both siblings results in Namor taking his anger out on Wakanda and flooding the capital city more than once. Similar events play out in the movie.
Riri Williams And Her Ironheart Path
As many superheroes in the MCU are on their way to being legacy characters - those who inherit their titles from other heroes before them - fans have been wondering if someone would follow Iron Man’s path, like his daughter, perhaps. Instead, it appears that it will be Riri Williams who will carry on the Iron Man legacy, not unlike her path in the comics.
In the comics, she reverse engineers the Iron Man armor, embarrassing Tony Stark when he realizes a teenager could recreate his design, and in some cases, improve on it. She uses Stark’s basic technology as a way to create her own suit in a garage, and later, in Wakanda. Riri also happens to attend MIT, the same school as Tony Stark, and her journey in the movie echoes his in the first Iron Man movie.
Riri is abducted in an attack, spends time in a cave, and even pounds out iron by hand (though in a lab instead of the cave). Her first suit design also sees her fly too high into the atmosphere and end up with a lack of oxygen, just like Tony’s first time using his suit during flight. When Riri creates her suit in Wakanda, however, fans will notice that she does cut out the silhouette of a heart for her comic book codename - Ironheart.
Shuri’s Connection To Killmonger
Shuri seeing Killmonger instead of her mother or her brother after she takes the synthetic version of the heart-shaped herb isn’t the only way the movie demonstrates how well she understands his anger. Her Black Panther garb is also closer to his than her brother’s.
T’Challla’s suit used black and shades of gray. Both Kilmonger (or N’Jadaka) and Shuri have gold in their suits instead of gray, making them stand out even more and demonstrating their connection to one another.
Of course, Shuri’s helmet also makes her take on the suit unique. The pattern or circles across the brow of the helmet is the same as the ceremonial adornments Shuri wears in the first movie and in the funeral scene of the second.
“Show Him Who You Are.”
After the death of Queen Ramonda, Shuri does see her mother speak to her in the ancestral plain as well. Queen Ramonda tells Shuri, “show him who you are,” referencing her conflict with Namor.
These are the same words she offered to T’Challa in regard to his conflicts in Black Panther.
CB112976
When Shuri decides to don the Black Panther suit and save Everett Ross, the audience gets a clear shot of the license plate on his prison transport van. It’s an Easter egg to honor Chadwick Boseman.
The plate reads “CB112976.” That translates to Chadwick Boseman’s initials and birthday - November 29, 1976.
Toussaint
There is no post-credit scene for Wakanda Forever, but there is a mid-credit scene in which Nakia reveals that she and T’Challa share a son. When Shuri’s nephew introduces himself to her, he explains that his Haitian name is Toussaint. Shuri appears to know the history behind the name.
Toussaint Louverture was born into slavery in the French colony that would eventually go on to become Haiti. He worked his way to freedom and tried to help change the social structure on the island, but the economy was still centered around plantation work. Toussaint was a leader in the Haitian revolution against France, and though he declared himself governor of the former-colony at one point, he died before the revolution was truly over.
In addition to the history of Toussaint though, there is another important part of the scene. When Shuri understands that Toussaint is her nephew’s Haitian name, she speaks to him in the Wakandan dialect to ask who he is, the same way others before her have questioned Wakandans undercover in the world.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever landed in theaters November 11, 2022.