Marvel Studios’ monster of a Hall H panel at Comic-Con ended with our first look at Ryan Coogler’s much anticipated Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The movie was the subject of a lot of speculation given the absence of the titular character following star Chadwick Boseman’s untimely passing. But Wakanda is more than just one man! And the kingdom of Wakanda has many more heroes, as the emotionally charged trailer revealed. Plus, we got our first look at actor Tenoch Huerta as Prince Namor. That’s right, the Sub-Mariner himself.
The sense of loss is palpable in the trailer to a cover version of “No Woman, No Cry.” It’s clear that the movie will be about the loss of T’Challa. The void on the throne has been filled by T’Challa and Shuri’s mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett). She is angry that she is the queen of the most powerful nation in the world but her family is all gone. Does that mean Shuri (Letitia Wright) is gone too? Well, not necessarily.
But, among the familiar returning faces, like Danai Gurira as Okoye, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, and Winston Duke as M’Baku, we also saw new faces. The most prominent of these is none other than Namor, the Sub-Mariner. As the trailer indicates, Wakanda will have to fight against the kingdom of Atlantis. Or maybe they’ll team up eventually? Who can really say. The Atlanteans we see seem to have a cool Mayan-inspired look, which might point to the direction Coogler will go with them. Huerta had already indicated he was learning the Ancient Mayan language, so. Yep.
So you might ask yourself, “how can this be a Black Panther movie without Black Panther? Well, we’re fairly positive it will be none other than Shuri herself who will don the familiar costume to fight as Wakanda’s protector. It happened in the comics, don’t ya know!
We truly cannot wait to see Coogler’s second outing for Marvel. His first was an unmitigated success and this new one looks to truly tug at the heartstrings amid the action.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will hit cinemas November 11, 2022.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.
