BLACK PANTHER
WAKANDA FOREVER

A SEQUEL AFTER A LOSS

HOW THE SEQUEL WAS REWRITTEN

Plans for the film changed in August 2020 when Chadwick Boseman died of colon cancer, and Marvel chose not to recast T’Challa. Coogler had already turned in a draft, Joe Robert Cole, co-writer of the first film, contributed to the sequel, and Angela Bassett said in July 2021 the screenplay had gone through at least five versions.

“we will not recast the character.”

Kevin Feige, December 2020

The film introduces Namor to the MCU and moves his homeworld from Atlantis to Talokan, an underwater civilisation inspired by ancient Maya culture, developed with Mayan historians and experts.

ATLANTA, BOSTON, GEORGIA AND PUERTO RICO

HOW THE FILM WAS MADE

Production started at Trilith Studios in Atlanta on 29 June 2021 under the working title Summer Break, with further filming in Massachusetts and on the Georgia coast. Letitia Wright was injured in a stunt accident in August 2021, and production paused in November 2021 while she recovered, resuming in January 2022 and wrapping in Puerto Rico on 24 March 2022. The budget was $200 million to $250 million.

Ludwig Göransson returned as composer, and Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up,” written by Tems, Göransson, Rihanna and Coogler, was released as a tribute to Boseman.

WAKANDA AND TALOKAN

WHO IS IN THE CAST

Letitia Wright plays Shuri, with Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Florence Kasumba as Ayo, Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams, Michaela Coel as Aneka, Mabel Cadena as Namora, Tenoch Huerta Mejía as Namor, Martin Freeman as Everett Ross, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine and Angela Bassett as Ramonda.

A NOVEMBER RECORD

HOW THE FILM WAS RELEASED AND WHAT IT EARNED

The film premiered in Hollywood on 26 October 2022 and opened internationally on 9 November and in the US on 11 November, after moving from May 2022 to July 2022 and then November. It opened to $181,339,761 in the US, the largest November opening ever, and went on to earn $453,829,060 there and $859,208,836 worldwide. It was released in China on 7 February 2023.

The depiction of a same-sex relationship between Ayo and Aneka was removed for the film’s release in Kuwait. The film has one mid-credits scene.

THE REWATCH

AN 84% CRITICS SCORE AND FIVE OSCAR NOMINATIONS

Rotten Tomatoes lists an 84% critics’ score from 451 reviews and a 93% audience score, and its consensus calls the film “a poignant tribute.” Metacritic gives it 67 from 62 critics, and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an A. Kambole Campbell of Empire wrote that it “stands out from a somewhat formulaic era of Marvel movies,” while Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote that “it’s easily 20 minutes too long.”

The film was nominated for five Academy Awards and won one, for costume design. Angela Bassett was nominated for best supporting actress, making it the first Marvel film nominated in an acting category.

In the Marvel Marathon it sits in the MCU release order guide between Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special. It sits between Thor: Love and Thunder and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in the MCU movies in order and Marvel movies in release order guides. In the MCU timeline guide it comes between Moon Knight and Echo.