Kevin C. Wong

Movie - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) [+]

Wakanda Forever is a sequel to Black Panther and since Chadwick Boseman died this movie starts out with the Black Panther recently deceased and Shuri (Letitia Wright) not able to cope with it. A year later the US government finds Vibranium deep in the ocean but their research ship is attacked and everyone is killed and the world kind of blames Wakanda trying to protect their Vibranium monopoly.

Turns out it is Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía) and his Talokan people (MCU changes Namor and his people to be descendants of the Mayans rather than Atlanteans) who are so xenophobic they want no one to find out about their existence. Namor deigns to reveal himself to Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and Shuri, making the Wakandans responsible for keeping the humans out of the oceans hunting for Vibranium and he also wants the Vibranium detector's inventor killed.

Shuri is able to find the inventor -- college student Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) -- and goes with Okoye (Danai Gurira) to go fetch her for protective custody before the Feds or Talokan's get to her. Once Wakanda has Riri they refuse to give her up to be murdered leading to a Talokan-Wakanda war which the Wakandans even with all their high tech may not win...

Lots of action. Introduction of a major new character to the MCU. And by the end of the film a new Black Panther. Marred a bit by the long Namor backstory scenes and the Wakandans thinking going out on a big flat topped ship to fight the Talokan fish people was somehow a good idea. Overall I think it's a fine movie and a worthy follow-up to Black Panther.