This movie was really special and I think we can all acknowledge that.

From start to finish, this film gave a powerful performance both through its’ storyline and characters. It’s the type of film that I can’t wait to see again just to absorb everything even more and feel like I can understand all the feelings meant to be conveyed. I don’t even want to continue to gloss over this from an overhead point of view, so let’s get ourselves right into breaking down this film. We had a lot to talk about in this podcast episode, so make sure you are giving it a listen. You can find your listening platform of choice by clicking the button below or listen right here in this blog post by hitting play on the link provided.

There isn’t any other way to start a movie that’s primary purpose is to grieve someone than with a moment of silence. I mean, obviously, the film began with us seeing the repercussions of T’Challa’s sickness and the moment he passes. This brings a shock factor, but the moment of silence during the montage of T’Challa drove this all home. It was like the opening of Infinity War, where it immediately let you know you were in for a different type of Marvel movie. My theater was silent during this moment, not even a single person breathing could be heard (and I promise I’m not being dramatic).

After the credits, we went right into the funeral scene, which was truly breathtaking. The Wakandans believe in celebrating life, but it was opposed by this feeling of overwhelming grief that came from Shuri. The way these scenes clearly conveyed these feelings made us immediately understand whose feelings we were going to be following throughout the film. And we did just that. We followed Shuri on her ride through the five stages of grief, and we will obviously get more into this in a moment, but I have to say that Letitia Wright gave the performance of a lifetime. Taking Shuri from the brightness of where she was when her brother was alive to the darkness she was at after his death and all the feelings in between was truly powerful.

Shuri was the obvious choice for the next Black Panther as we moved into this film, but there’s a surreal feeling when you enter a film about a character that was never supposed to be anything too much. Maybe eventually we would have seen Shuri take on the BP mantle, but we know it was never in the plans for the next few phases. It felt like truly uncharted territory, but it gave the movie an essence of never truly knowing what was going to happen. She is going to be an extremely gifted BP and will be quite the protector and asset to the Wakandian community.

There’s a distinctive reason I phrased that the way I did. Shuri is a force driven by teachings she learned from two different yet similar men. For one, she grew up with her brother and learned, obviously, so much from him. She saw him become king and a leader, along with a protector and a superhero, all in one. So to be able to see all of this and not have it impact her would have been strange. But never in my life did I think she was as impacted as she was by Eric Killmonger than this film portrayed. First off, I, of course, never imagined we were going to see Killmonger in this film, especially in this capacity. But man did it put me on the edge of my seat. Shuri was in a place where she understood Killmonger more than her brother, which is why she saw him after taking the herb. She needed to hear from him because she felt his rage. It was a powerful scene and it resulted in such a cool freaking suit, showing both the silver and gold of T’Challa and Killmonger. She went into battle bringing the teachings of both men with her, going after Namor on the water because that’s what Killmonger would have done, but sparing him because that is what her brother would have done. I’m excited to see if we will continue to see this duality as Shuri continues to grow as a character.

We’re going to pivot now to the ‘villain’ of this film. I am beyond happy to say Taylor and I got one thing right out of our whole predictions episode and that is that Namor will return. But before I get ahead of myself, let’s talk about the MCUs first official mutant. He was awesome, and his story proved why he was considered an anti-hero. Namor fit the same mold Killmonger did in the form of creating a character who you understood why he was doing what he was doing. You might not have agreed with it, but you understood their reasoning and want to do it. And quite frankly, he was a formidable force along with his Atlantian army. The similarities between the two nations formed the story so well, and I am quite excited to see where Atlantis and Namor appear again in the future. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Namor appear in a future mutant-related piece of content. I don’t think we will see him and his people cross paths in the way we saw here with the Wakandans again, although, for obvious reasons, I expect to see future interactions. There is one other place I could see him ending up, and that is with the Defenders. Put aside the Netflix series for a second. The original group of Defenders included Dr. Strange, Namor, and the Hulk. We clearly now have all three of those characters, so it could be an interesting way to bring the Defenders into the MCU!

We can’t go anywhere without talking about M’Baku and his clear step up into brotherhood and mentorship. We knew going into this film that Winston Duke had gotten an extended role after the passing of Chadwick, and we now see just how important his character has become and will be in the future of the Black Panther franchise. He is King of Wakanda, but not the Black Panther, as Shuri will wear that title after giving him the throne. I think this was the best-case scenario, as M’Baku was born to be a leader, while Shuri knew she was never meant to be Queen. But she is gifted with intelligence and is naturally a fighter. Plus, the relationship the two of them has is solid. They trust each other after everything they’ve been through and we all know how important having strong relationships are in the MCU. But he was also hilarious in this film, providing some great moments of comic relief needed in such a heavy film. While I know it was due to circumstances, I am looking forward to this continued expansion of his role.

Briefly, I want to talk about Valentina. So we learned she is now the head of the CIA, which should make things like the Thunderbolts pretty interesting. It now explains why she has such leverage over certain characters (like Bucky), who many couldn’t figure out why would join the Thunderbolts. I’ve said this before, but I see her being the Nick Fury of this group, and she clearly has the resources for it. But it also means that we may already have a corrupt individual high in our government. On top of this, we have a certain Carter who was just reinstated and also happens to be known as the Powerbroker. Pretty much, I’m trying to tell you that I’m going off the wall as we get these breadcrumbs for things like Cap 4 and the Thunderbolts.

For obvious reasons, this film was an emotional rollercoaster. In my opinion, many deserve awards for the performances they gave (and no I’m not a ‘all Marvel movies need awards’ kind of person) but truly to convey emotions and move an audience the way many of these actors and actresses did is beyond impressive. But the very last moment I want to discuss is the last few scenes of the movie itself and then the end credit scene. For one, the movie opening with T’Challa’s death and his funeral and then ending with Shuri burning her funeral wear was a stunning symbolism to all that has happened both in the film and in real life. Seeing the flashes of T’Challa and the moments she shared with her brother is what I have to admit finally is the moment my eyes welled up. But then we got something even more beautiful, which was Shuri meeting her nephew. Many speculated that a storyline of this caliber would come along, but the hype of it seemed to fade away the closer we got to the film. To those who stayed true believers, you were 100% right that T’Challa did bare a son before his passing. To drive it in our hearts, even more, he not only spent time with his son but prepared him for his death. And then the icing on the cake is that his son is named T’Challa, fixing the wandering question of whether T’Challa should be recast or brought in from another universe.

So where will this take us? I’m going to have to assume that Marvel won’t wait 7-10 years for that 7-year-old boy to age up and be of age to start considering his royal roots. But I also don’t see Marvel giving us such a deep dive into Shuri just to take it away and give her very earned Black Panther title to someone else. I think Phases 5 and 6 will continue to give us Shuri as the Black Panther and, depending on the effects of films like Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, we will see a somehow aged-up T’Challa II appear to carry us into the next phases and continue critical T’Challa storylines. He may also run with the Young Avengers, who have been continuing to show up since Phase 4 began.

Here we are finishing our coverage of the last major piece of Marvel content for Phase 4 and the calendar year. Unlike spring sometimes, it came in like a lion and out like a panther (see what I did there?). As content slows down for a little, we will be going back to our bi-weekly show schedule. This means in two weeks, get ready for us to discuss Phase 4 and where we think we are going from here. We also have the Guardians holiday special this year, so it isn’t completely over yet! If you have fallen behind at any point, definitely use this time to catch up on both Marvel and our content, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, Sarah Whitten, CNBC