We coming up on the moment of truth.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has been the film that I think most have anticipated since knowing it was coming after the first Black Panther and Infinity War/Endgame era. After the first film’s success and the cultural impact, it makes perfect sense why this was. But I don’t need to remind anyone of the events of 2020 that significantly impacted specifically this film and took control of the Black Panther narrative, leading it to a different path than the one it was supposed to take. Here we are, days away from the premiere of the second Black Panther film without their leading actor. Since so much has changed, there was plenty to hit in this predictions episode, so make sure to take a listen before continuing to read this blog post, if you haven’t already. You can find your listening platform of choice by clicking the button or listen in live time by hitting play on the link below!

Since we avoided this topic with a 10-foot stick in our last episode, let’s hit the biggest question right from the jump: who is the next Black Panther? For obvious reasons, I don’t think we need to argue too hard that it is very likely Shuri, but we can’t forget that one of the trailers does show a male Black Panther. So I guess our question more specifically should be: who is the male BP that we see? One running theory that we have is that prior to Shuri ascending the throne (as obviously, the person on the thrown is the one who takes the mantle of the BP), her mother becomes queen. As her mother is obviously older, she may have chosen a warrior to be the BP for her as Shuri is prepped for a thrown she was never supposed to take. On a different note, the suit looked to be very similar to the gold and black suit that Killmonger wore in the first Black Panther film. While I don’t think it is him for obvious reasons, and I don’t expect us to see any multiversal elements in this film, if we are to assume the gold suit stands more for the nemesis, another theory is that the suit itself is stolen. We don’t have much thought on who, but the stolen suit might be what becomes the catalyst for the war between Atlantis and Wakanda. We obviously have some other theories on that one, but a BP suit in the wrong hands could cause a lot of damage.

Moving into the conflict between the two nations, many things might have set it off. Obviously, we have the theory from above, but is it also possible that M’Baku has a role to play in it all. When watching the trailers, the thing that caught my eye was that M’Baku seems to be sharing quite a bit of information about Namor with Shuri and other royal/army figures. This raised the question about how he might know this information and in this moment, even with his obvious redemption, we have to remember that M’Baku did not always agree with how Wakanda handled itself. I wonder if there is a possibility of an old friend (Namor) of M’Baku’s coming to settle a debt they had. Additionally, there is the possibility that T’Challa and Namor had an understanding between the two nations, an understanding that came to an end when T’Challa passed away. Namor’s actor has stated that he sees his character more as an anti-hero, so I do think that means there is a deeper reason why he is doing what he does in the film, just like Killmonger.

There’s one more theory we have on why conflict erupts between the nations of Wakanda and Atlantis, and that is our good friend the colonizer aka Agent Everett Ross. Obviously, we know he is on pretty solid terms with Wakanda after the events of the first Black Panther. After all, he was a huge support to T’Challa when he decided that Wakanda should open its borders. So fast forward now to this trailer where we see a government team exploring the deep ocean, which we can only assume is the U.S. government as they play such a role in most of the other films. They threaten the people of Atlantis, they strike back, and the Dora Milaje intervenes. This would make the two worlds suddenly enemies, as I’m sure governments, in general, have not been kind to nations such as Atlantis. I mean, there is a reason Wakanda kept itself a secret, isn’t there?

As I have mentioned him about forty times, let’s talk about Namor himself. He is the son of a sea captain and a princess of Atlantis, which is what gives him abilities tied to the Atlantian species. On top of that, he is a mutant (yes, I said mutant) who has the following powers:

Aquatic adaptation

Superhuman strength, speed, durability, agility, senses and reflexes

Flight

Longevity

Fireproof

Hydrokinesis

Echolocation

Electric shock

Marine life empathy, telepathy, control

Pretty much, this guy is loaded with mutant powers and is technically the first real mutant we are seeing who knows fully what they are. He is going to be a force in this film and due to his powers and run in the comics, will likely make a continued appearance after this film. I don’t expect to see a Killmonger end to Namor, not with the potential he has as a character or with the fact he is a mutant.

The final topic I want to make sure is hit before we get into our end credit predictions is Riri Williams making her MCU debut. This really excites me, as we have gotten a lot of origin stories on Disney+ and I like that Riri’s is going to be like how we used to get new characters: they just sort of appear in the movie. I think it will also bring a different tone to Ironheart when it does come out because we won’t be starting from the very beginning with this character. But we do need to touch on her role in this film, as it’s pretty important to know her involvement. It seems from the trailer she is quite close to Shuri, which obviously makes sense based on their genius backgrounds. Yet, I want to know how they met? Did it come from Shuri’s time working in California? Did they meet randomly? Or is Riri crashing into Wakanda from a different connection and she and Shuri hit it off? Either way, it will be interesting to see her level of involvement in this film and what relationships she maintains in Wakanda afterward.

Let’s finish this out with some end-credit predictions. We have gotten confirmation that there is only one end credit scene (sad), but that doesn’t mean we don’t have some great thoughts on what it might contain. One possible end-credit scene is Namor interacting with another mutant/X-Men. This could help explain where his character goes after this film, although I do think we are only jogging to the mutant storyline, so I’m not sure I expect to see any big characters appear here. Another possibility is any Ant-Man-related scene, as that is the next film and has had a trailer already drop only a few weeks ago. This would be fairly on par with how Marvel has used at least one end-credit scene to usually hint at the next film. The next theory could be that it is Riri setting up for her show, although I think this one would be disappointing. I’m excited about her role in this film and her show, but I don’t think we will need the end-credit scene to get us there. Lastly, and likely my favorite, is that someone really important, especially to Wakanda, is revealed to be a Skrull. Secret Invasion is coming very quickly and I think this would be a great reveal, just like it was after Far From Home. It also could be fitting, as in the comics, Black Panther does go to war against the Skrulls in Wakanda. This one would definitely shock me the most and as we haven’t gotten anything more than a trailer for Secret Invasion yet, it would be extremely fitting to start building the hype for it.

It’s safe to say we are really excited to see what comes out of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The first few rounds of reviews are coming in and it is certainly scoring high. It is bound to be an emotional trip and we can’t wait to cover our reactions to it and hear what you all thought! One last thing to remember as you enter this movie this weekend is that this is the finale of Phase 4 and moving forward we will be in Phase 5 of the MCU, so definitely get ready as we move closer to films like Avengers: Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars. As always, keep up with all this great content, along with ours, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, Koimoi Team, Koimoi