Almost a week has passed since then Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hit theaters, bringing to life the latest film in the ever-evolving tapestry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Even before the project premiered, there was an undeniable amount of significance surrounding it — it’s not just a sequel to 2018’s billion-dollar earnings. Black Pantherbut deals with the real death of franchise star Chadwick Boseman, who passed away after a private battle with cancer in 2020. Additionally, Wakanda forever Serves as the official end to Phase 4, the franchise’s films and Disney+ TV shows that have premiered over the past two years. (This month Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special It’s already been described as a “finale” for the stage.)
The conversation around Stage 4 has been unique from the start, arguably due to the high point built into 2019. Avengers: Endgame, as well as many delays and schedule changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid questions about whether or not Phase 4 makes a point, meets fan expectations and the like, there have been countless bright spots over the past two years of storytelling – and honestly, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever It couldn’t have been a better culmination for them. While Wakanda forever It may not tie the Phase 4 narrative into an arc (we’ve got the next few phases of storytelling to look forward to), the film proves to be an incredibly fitting conclusion to Marvel’s latest experiment. Obviously major spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Lurking below! Just see if you want to know!
old and new
even in game overWhen the heroes of the last decade of the MCU came together in a battle for the universe, it became clear that the franchise was just beginning to scratch the surface of its source material. The Marvel Comics landscape has dramatically ebbed and flowed for the better part of a century, telling stories of all kinds of variety, and introducing characters with a really weird mythology surrounding them. With Phase 4, Marvel Studios is catching up to that mindset, weaving characters and concepts that fans could never have imagined into live-action, and re-imagining them for the modern era. for Wakanda foreverHowever, this bucket-list aspect is easily the introduction of Namor (Tenoch Huerta), one of the first superheroes ever introduced in the Marvel mythos – but a character who, in some geek circles, had previously been reduced to a quasi-obscure piece of trivia.
While the stories of Namor have been told in some form or style since the 1930s, Wakanda forever He found a great way to introduce him to audiences, recasting his origin story and his undersea kingdom within Mesoamerican culture, while still revering parts of his more obscure comic source material. This, combined with Huerta’s charming performance, instantly made Namor a standout in the film – continuing the trend of clever reinvention that can be seen throughout Phase 4. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings An effective account of the messy history of Wenwu / The Mandarin (Tony Leung), to smaller examples such as Strong woman And the Ms. Marvel Changing the components of their heroes’ origin stories, The Stage was not afraid to experiment constructively with the comic canon, and Wakanda foreverNamor’s adaptation may be the most groundbreaking example yet.
legacy
Another element of Phase 4’s take on comic canon – one that perplexed and delighted fans in equal measure – was the addition of a lot of legacy characters. The stage has seen several characters take on the mantles or responsibilities of their predecessors, whether through Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in The Falcon and the Winter SoldierKate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). hookor Jen Walters (Tatiana Maslany) in Strong woman. Even then, the default list of a Young Avengers The film is growing at an almost comical rate, with nearly every Phase 4 project introducing a teenage or young adult superhero. Wakanda Forever ticks both of these legacy boxes, the first with Shuri (Letitia Wright) taking on the mantle of the new Black Panther, and the latter with the live-action introduction of Riri Williams/Ironheart (Dominique Thorne), and later T’Challa’s young son, Toussaint ( Divine Love (Konado Sun).
Storytelling techniques could have easily lost their luster Wakanda forever, but the movie finds ways to make them both incredibly compelling. Shuri’s arc, in particular, proves to be a shockingly poignant interpretation of her current original comic situation, as well as a moving picture of just how much she’s evolved since she first appeared in the MCU. While some Wakanda foreverIts marketing made it clear we’d be getting a new Black Panther, with Shuri’s steps towards taking on that mantle proving exciting and rewarding nonetheless.
stakes
Sure, getting an earth-shattering disaster eternal and the unsettled street-level story of hook In a couple of months, it might have been irritating to some viewers, especially when we’ve grown so big to expect every superhero story to have the same weight. But Phase 4’s dichotomy between the larger-than-life and incredibly small stakes is not only true to life, but also true to the larger tapestry of superhero comics, and there’s something refreshing about seeing the MCU reflect that. Wakanda forever Grapples with this divide in spades: On the surface, Clash of Chapter Three is an all-out war between two groups of incredibly skilled warriors, with the fate of the incredibly powerful MacGuffin hanging in the balance. But what ultimately resolves this conflict, the shared feeling of grief between two people who have lost their mother, couldn’t be more personal.
That emotional tension can be effectively felt from the film’s first scene, which chronicles the frantic final moments before T’Challa’s off-screen death – a scene that, though we know its outcome, leaves the audience on edge.
Love perseverance
Wakanda foreverThe opening scene, and the countless empathetic moments that follow, bring one of Phase 4’s core themes to a head – grief. The concept of trauma and loss has been culled from nearly every project in Phase, starting with WandaVisionThe iconic image of him now. From there, we’ve got two separate projects that reckon with the loss of Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), the cultural grief of division in Ms. Marveland more character-driven explorations of the concept in projects like Loki, Moon KnightAnd the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Even the loudest vocal project in phase 4, Thor: Love and Thunder, was rooted in a sense of love and loss for nearly all of his characters. Given the circumstances of the pandemic, which began in the middle of many stage projects in development, the fact that grief was such a consistent and poignant theme felt all the more groundbreaking.
with Wakanda foreverPhase 4’s idea of grief felt (understandably, given the circumstances) deeper, with Boseman constantly present for the characters, cast and crew, and audience. But the film found pockets of true beauty within that sadness, preventing its story and cast of characters from eating away at the inside.
A real marvel
From a global pandemic, to the countless production delays and rearrangements of schedules caused by this global pandemic, it could be argued that Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe shouldn’t have worked as well as it did. It’s no wonder that the past couple of years of films and Disney+ shows have effectively entertained and compelled audiences given the circumstances, albeit in ways they might not have anticipated given the earlier stages. for Black Panther: Wakanda ForeverHowever, the idea of being content with what you’ve got is even more important, as the film manages to deliver such a beautiful and cathartic sequel amid the loss of its central star. fact that Wakanda forever Doing so while uniquely carrying the torch to so many other parts of Phase 4 — Legacy, Grief, and the like — feels like cause for celebration.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever It is now shown exclusively in theaters.
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