MARVEL STUDIOS’ BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER

MARVEL STUDIOS’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the sequel to the 2018 Black Panther, returns to screens with more action, more complexities, and more diasporic whispers and nods than its predecessor. The sequel opened to an impressive worldwide box office release and will prove to be iconic.

Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which spans multiple universes and timeframes. Although Wakanda Forever is set in the present and near future, the story (and movie title) implicitly engages with the futures of a fictitious Sub-Saharan African nation, its leaders, and its people. Wakanda is the richest and most technologically advanced nation on the planet due to its location on top of a powerful alien metal known as vibranium, which was said to have come to earth via a meteorite centuries ago. The country was hidden from the Western world until its former King T’Chaka was killed (in the 2018 movie) and succeeded by T’Challa played by Chadwick Boseman.

By Zabrina Epps & Alvin Schexnider

We enter the story with Wakanda now mourning the loss of King T’Challa from an unknown illness, due to the real-life loss of Chadwick Boseman to colon cancer in 2020. King T’Challa’s mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), handily picks up the mantle to lead the resource and culturally rich Sub-Saharan African country, which Europeans never colonized. In a scene depicting a meeting of the United Nations, the Queen is provoked to reaffirm her nation’s power in response to demands by Western countries that Wakanda share its precious resource - vibranium1

We are then introduced to a new civilization during a tender moment between Queen Ramonda and Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright), T’Challa’s sister who is a science and technology prodigy. They are greeted by Namor (Tenoch Huerta) who rises from the water to warn them that vibranium exists outside of Wakanda and that the Western world’s attempts to mine it is a threat to his Talokan people. The film is a rich tour de force that touches on grief, matriarchy, isolationism vs internationalism, intervention for resources, and war. The entire cast is amazing, but truly the film rests on the emotional journey of Shuri (Wright), Queen Ramonda’s (Basset) anguish of ruling a peaceful nation at risk of invasion while coping with the loss of both her son and husband, and Namor’s (Huerta) steadfast commitment to protecting his own people as their godking, even if it means destroying Wakanda to protect the Talokan.

It’s important to note that the Talokan are based on ancient Mayan and Mesoamerican civilizations who were forced underwater when their land was invaded by Spanish colonizers (Polowy, 2022). Like the intentionality of the all-Black casting of the Wakandans, the Talokan are all cast by Latinx actors and actresses, shining a spotlight on Latinx-Futures.

In grand Marvel Studios’ big-budget fashion and flanked by the true brilliance of director Ryan Coogler, Wakanda Forever provides all of the action and cinematic splendor that movie-goers have come to expect from the franchise. However, just like Black Panther of 2018, Wakanda Forever revels in its opportunity to show

NOTES: a captive audience the history, culture, beauty, diversity, intelligence, and richness that exists in an Africa that was never touched by colonization. Wakandans display an agency that transcends the ‘isms’ that have plagued the non-fiction diaspora. There are several themes –subtle and not so subtle – throughout the film that’s a clarion call throughout the diaspora. Only, not with trumpets, with drums.

1 Vibranium is sought after for its super strength and ability to absorb vibrations and kinetic energy.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) crosses different genres, including cosmic science fiction, fantasy, mythology, period piece, and many others (Goddard, 2022). Also of note is the film’s strong centrality in Afrofuturism. Afrofuturism is all at once, “a way to decode black liberation in a country built upon slave labor” (Lavendar, 2019), a midpoint between “imagination, liberation, technology, and the future” (Womack, 2013), and a “spiritual technology that produces knowledge by systemically showing how the non-physical world works in tandem with the material world and by applying this information for practical ends such as freedom” (Lavender, 2019). To describe some of the themes in Wakanda Forever, we borrowed from an essay (republished by Common Good) that Afrofuturist Octavia Butler wrote for Essence Magazine in 2000.

Learning

from the Past

Butler explains how she analyzes the past to inform the futures she writes about.

Butler, O. (2000). A few rules for predicting the future, Common Good Collective, https://tinyurl.com/mtwddk3h Goddard, M. (2022 May), Every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie by genre, https:// wegotthiscovered.com/movies/every-marvel-cinematic-universe-movie-by-genre/

She explains that “to try to foretell the future without studying history is like trying to learn to read without bothering to learn the alphabet.” Coogler and his team certainly display many references to African (and Indigenous) histories that otherwise would be ignored. This is why many scholars have adapted the movie’s themes into educational curricula. From the rituals and ceremonies based on actual tribal traditions, clothing embellished with references to regions from Northern and sub-Saharan areas. Coogler and the team meticulously curated a Wakandan language illustrated in the subtitles that morph from hieroglyphics into English words and in utterances of various African dialects. There’s also no shortage of technical and scientific references, including genomics, physiology, and physics. While tales of Wakanda’s history are not explicitly uttered in the dialogue, references to little-known historical facts and artifacts provide many opportunities for the world to learn more about the continent, those who inhabit it, and those who are descended from it beyond the slavery narrative.

Respect the Law of Consequences

Again Butler cautions, “In fact, I don’t believe we can do anything at all without side effects–also known as unintended consequences. Those consequences may be beneficial or harmful.” This comment harkens back to the original dilemma from Black Panther (2018) of how much to interact with other world powers. As illustrated in the scenes at the UN, with CIA Director Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) in the United States, and with the Talokan people, every action has a consequence of equal or greater impact. Even a young MIT student in the film trying to make a name for herself as she hustles to stay in school does not escape the fallout from her otherwise good intentions.

Be Aware of Your Perspective

In many ways, the movie was about mining through emotions. Starting with the mourning of T’Challa (and Chadwick Boseman) to the generational trauma passed on from the ancient Mayans to the Talokan people, the characters wade through deep emotions and make big decisions that lead to serious implications for Wakanda. Butler asks, “How many combinations of unintended consequences and human reactions to them does it take to detour us into a future that seems to defy any obvious trend?” She then answers, “Not many.” Thus, the story reminds us of the importance of self – and group reflection, systems thinking, and considering many possible futures in decision-making.

Count on Surprises

The story of Wakanda Forever (and Black Panther before it) reveals a place that, despite its best efforts to protect itself, continues to face the threat of invasion and exploitation for its resources, just as countries in present-day Africa experience. As Butler states, “No matter how hard we try to foresee the future, there are always these surprises.” What is of no surprise is that Coogler and Marvel Studios have delivered yet another cinematic masterpiece featuring layers of narratives to be revealed anew with each subsequent viewing of the movie.

The final theme we gleaned from Wakanda Forever also continues from the 2018 Black Panther, i.e. identity. This is where the drums beat the loudest. The refrain of identity is echoed throughout the movie and crescendos with Queen Ramonda’s reminder to her royal child, “Show him who you are!” This message isn’t just for the characters in Wakanda Forever, it’s for all of us. Butler concludes her essay with a reminder of why despite a myriad of uncertainties, engaging with futures is a necessary undertaking.

Because, most of all, our tomorrow is the child of our today. Through thought and deed, we exert a great deal of influence over this child, even though we can’t control it absolutely. Best to think about it, though. Best to try to shape it into something good. Best to do that for any child.

Even while listening to pop star Rihanna’s single “Lift Me Up” as the final credits scroll, Wakanda Forever leaves us thinking about our children.

The Authors

Zabrina Epps, Ph.D. is a Futures Coach and Research Fellow at the Marie Fielder Center for Democracy, Leadership, and Education at Fielding Graduate University, Contact: www.linkedin.com/in/ zabrina-epps

Alvin Schexnider is an emancipatory designer, Afrofuturist, and Founder of the art & design counter-studio GraffitiVersal as well as Senior Equity Design Strategist at Capital One. Contact: https://www. linkedin.com/in/alvinschexnider https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/black-panther-wakanda-forever-blackhispanic-latinx-people-culture-similarities-160014942.html Womack,