That’s a heck of a trailer.
Male or female Black Panther they showed at the end?
Hard to tell, but my guess is the Black Panther will be a shared role amongst many different people.
Who’s the actor playing (presumably) Namor?
Namor is played by Tenoch Huerta.
Cautiously optimistic. They’ve been building up to Namor for awhile.
That looks remarkably solid, considering how hellishly difficult and complex the production has been up to this point. If Coogler can pull a legitimate movie out of the tangle of challenges he’s been facing, he’ll be solidifying his credentials as a truly great director.
It probably helps that they apparently had a strong foundational concept from the start. Reading between the lines on this trailer, it appears that the basic hook is something like: “If an African nation suddenly appeared on the global stage, wielding wealth and power that instantly makes it an undeniable peer of the long-established white-governed countries, how would those countries actually react?” The only reasonable answer is that those countries would naturally freak out, and many of them would react really, really badly. More specifically, it seems like the premise is going to be that, instead of being warmly welcomed in the halls of power, Wakanda was greeted with anger and suspicion, and is facing concerted opposition from formerly imperial and colonial powers who regard it as an imbalance of tradition that this African nation can write its own checks and set its own destiny.
Therefore, it appears that those established powers have decided to gin up a manufactured conflict between Wakanda and the newly-discovered kingdom of Atlantis (however Marvel decides to name it, if they want to differentiate from DC), attempting to pit these two POC-led states against one another so they weaken each other and make themselves vulnerable to influence and takeover by those pre-existing nations. And whoever inherits the Black Panther mantle, their task will be to try to connect with the mistrustful Namor to short-circuit the scheme and save both Atlantis and Wakanda.
That would be a worthy Black Panther sequel. I wonder if Disney will have the cojones to actually do it.
That all sounds very likely, and as you said if Coogler can create a good film after the shock of Boseman passing undoubtedly upended all his plans, he is to be commended. Somehow I got the sense from the trailer that Atlantis and Wakanda already knew each other-perhaps some old treaty? Don’t ask how I got that impression. The Aztec (? I may be wrong and I’m far from an expert) style chosen for Atlantis is interesting. Who will be the new Black Panther? Shuri? The glimpse we got seemed feminine, but that may just be because she makes the most sense.
According to this very entertaining profile of the actor playing Namor, he has been learning some sort of Mayan language for the role.
So do we know how, in-universe, T’Challa died?
I would watch that movie. Because that’s exactly what white people would do.
I am white, so I’m allowed to say that.
I’m not sure, but I think we know because:
- The people wearing white in the trailer were likely at his funeral.
- Isn’t that Queen who lost her entire family T’Chall’a’s mom? Therefore, she is indicating that he’s dead.
I think having him be dead in the movie is the best move. I know they have officially said they are not recasting T’challa. Black Panther will be a different character.
My wife thinks the Wakandan people will share the role of Black Panther somehow instead of assigning it to one person.
If my speculation is close to reality, my only real concern is that Disney might have gotten antsy about the political angle and required the manipulative adversary to be specified as an extragovernmental entity, like a Hydra successor or something, rather than actual nations (or their fictionalized avatars) which remain innocent. I get that Disney doesn’t want this to get too heavy, but the first Black Panther did not shy away from the ugliness of African history, so it would be disappointing if they were to get cold feet. If any Marvel series needs to be tough-minded about the real world, it’s this one.
I think you misplaced the “how” in my question. I wasn’t asking “how do we know he’s dead?”; that part was pretty clear. I was asking “how did he die?”.
My guess is that this is a Blip flashback, and Ramonda is saying her whole family is gone in that context. Otherwise it means Shuri has to die at some point in this movie and I don’t see that happening.
Oh. No, they have not said. Perhaps they will simply say he died from cancer or something? Did Black Panther have super healing powers?
I’m guessing Nakia. Lupita is second billed but there’s only one shot of her in the trailer.
Putting this in spoilers as it might reveal the answer as to who the new BP is:
They just revealed the wave of action figures tied to the movie at comic con. Usually a wave has six different figures, but only five were shown: Nakia in the bad ass blue outfit shown in the trailer, the martin short character who’s name escapes me, Okoye, Namor and a secondary atlantean. Notably absent was Shuri, and the assumption is that she was not shown as it would be a spoiler.
Aside: People sometimes talk about representation, in connection with the Black Panther movie (movies, now). And in fact, I was very happy that there was a character I could identify so strongly with, because most movies don’t have one. The fact that she was a different race and sex from me and half my age are irrelevant.
Which, seriously, is great and a step forward on our way to the shared better world and all. But…
That also kinda sounds like it’s implying that movies providing opportunities for a middle-aged white guy to “identify so strongly” with a character onscreen on the basis of personal hobbies or passions is as important as, or basically the same sort of thing as, other kinds of representation.
Which, tbh, it really isn’t.
I think you mean Martin Freeman. Martin Short would add a weird atmosphere for the dramatic scenes.