First Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Reactions Pour In

Disney and Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was unveiled at its world premiere in Hollywood on Wednesday night. The official review embargo for Wakanda Forever lifts on Nov. 8, but the social media embargo for early reactions lifted after the premiere.

Written and directed by Ryan Coogler, Wakanda Forever is a sequel to the filmmaker’s 2018 movie Black Panther and is the 30th feature film entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first Black Panther movie was a global box office and cultural phenomenon, scoring $1.35 billion in ticket sales and earning an Oscar nomination for best picture.

For a long while, it felt as if Black Panther: Wakanda Forever would never come. Yes, the Marvel Studios sequel to one of 2018’s biggest movies—and the first superhero film ever to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar—was greenlit, and, sure, Ryan Coogler wrote and rewrote his screenplay, with cameras rolling in Georgia and everything. But in the immediate aftermath of the monumental loss of Chadwick Boseman, it seemed difficult to fully accept. How could they continue without that central, indispensable performance?

As it turns out, it would be by sincerely honoring to it. When the first teaser for Black Panther 2 dropped earlier this year, the extent to which Coogler, who returned to direct the sequel as well as co-write the movie alongside Joe Robert Cole, had turned the project into a tribute to the T’Challa character, and more poignantly Boseman, only began to be felt. And now that audiences have finally begun laying their eyes on Wakanda Forever following the movie’s world premiere in Los Angeles Wednesday night, the impact of that intention is becoming clear.

Details of the film’s plot have, for the most part, been kept tightly under wraps. Marvel has only revealed the overarching story, in which Wakanda’s remaining leaders have to fight back to protect the once-secretive land from invading forces in the wake of King T’Challa’s death, even as a new threat emerges in the form of Namor, the ruler of a hidden undersea nation called Talokan. It will also introduce an important new character to the universe: Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), who will also be the star of her own Disney+ show, Ironheart. The upcoming series is reported to be bringing two key Marvel Comics villains to the MCU – The Hood and Mephisto.

Those who were able to attend the world premiere seem to have been blown away with what Coogler, his cast, and the crew have been able to achieve, especially given the movie’s rocky road to the screen. They also hint at a jaw-dropping post-credits scene attached to the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Will this be another game-changer for the MCU?

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to hit theaters on Nov. 11. Clocking in with a runtime of two hours and 41 minutes, the sequel will be the second-longest title in the MCU behind Avengers: Endgame.

Black Panther: #WakandaForever is as epic as Marvel sequels get. The story is hugely ambitious & thematically rewarding with gut-wrenching twists and turns throughout. You feel the length but it’s fun, wildly beautiful and has the best credits scene in Marvel history, no contest.