Of all the monumental hills Marvel Studios has had to climb in the 14 years since they started this journey figuring out how to continue the story of the Black Panther following the loss of Chadwick Boseman has to be the highest. Marvel, as well as director Ryan Coogler and pretty much anyone associated with the upcoming Wakanda Forever has kept a tight lid on what to expect. Will there even be a Black Panther in this film? How will the handle T’Challa’s death? Well thanks once again to the Marvel panel in hall H of the San Diego Comic-Con we have some answers…or at least some clues as to what the answers will be.
The 2 minute clip below, which is backtracked by an increasingly more powerful version of Bob Marley’s classic “No woman, no cry” opens with what I can only assume is the funeral for T’Challa. Everyone is dressed in white, there are tribal dances happening and beautiful decorations everywhere. I think Wakanda is the type of place that would celebrate life, rather then mourn death so this can only be the funeral. As if things couldn’t get more dour we get to see quick glimpses of Atlantis and it does appear that Namor will be arriving without the welcome wagon. Historically he’s always detested the “land dwellers” and was later a hesitant ally to the Avengers. There is some government military group that appears to force their way into what I’m assuming is Atlantis, so the assaults on Wakanda that we see soon after must be a mis-guided response to that.
While there are some similarities between the Atlanteans of the MCU and those of the DCEU they are far from identical. These are not the sparkly blondes of the DCEU (Aquaman withstanding), and their leader Namor (Tenoch Huerta) comes with all the intimidation of a Maori Haka.
The trailer closes with a shot of a suited up Black Panther, but sadly there are no clues (that I saw) to who it is under the mask. Shuri seems likely, something about her look in this clip seems more actionable then her previous appearances, but we’ll just have to wait to find out for sure.
