Hot Takes: Black Panther Wakanda Forever
About Me: I am a Black American Woman who was born in Nigerian before my family immigrated who has written 60+ fanfic for BP and has an entire worldbuilding document: here. I unfortunately take this shit too seriously.
DISCLAIMER: I have a bit of grace for Coogler and the cast since they were in part, grieving Chadwick + facing serious troubles from MCU which never really wanted BP1 to be successful in the first place. Never mind how long MCU dilly dallied to give us any Wakandan content and BP2.
Coogler fans that can't take critique, Namor Dick Riders and non-blacks who can't name 5 Wakandans not in the MCU movie, Do Not Interact. Please and Thank you.
Why did Black Panther have to be the one to introduce the Talokans? Why not any of the other fifty eleven properties that cam out between Black Panther 2 and Thunderbolts? Of which there are many.
This decision reeks of anti-blackness especially consider Black Panther in the comics and MCU gets paid dust and Wakandans are rarely included in the bigger MCU canon. (Shout out to Falcon and The Winter Soldier for giving the Dora .5 seconds of badass screen time)
We somehow get more worldbuilding and history for the Talokans than we did for Wakanda IN A BLACK PANTHER MOVIE.
Mind you, we haven’t had a BP property between BP1 and BP2 (there may have been something but its definitely negligible)
At the very least a limited series following Wakandans would have been nice. Or a Dora Milaje story, canonly we have Roxane Gay’s work to call on here.
We know fuck all about Wakandans that aren’t royalty of nobles. Fuck all about regular Wakandan’s experiences and reactions to BP1.Fuck all about their experiences following End Game and the snap. And fuck all for what they’ve been doing since BP1. And BP2 gives us basically nothing. In a Black Panther film (something I was personally really looking forward to) We don’t get any meaningful worldbuilding. It’s just outfits and aesthetics for the gram.
For a movie about fictional Africans it sure didn’t let many Africans have important roles…………… (and no i don't count black brits) I’m never not gonna let this go, shut up.
Namor canonically has had clashes with Black Panther. That is fine. But his behavior in BP2 was utterly disrespectful to them and Wakanda’s sovereighty. Particularly poignant because the initial conflict was Wakanda not letting him kill an innocent black girl.
They then kidnapped their princess (an act of war tbh) and acted like Nakia wasn’t justified for responding violently to rescue their weeks long kidnapped princess?????????
I know Namor is supposed to be this near immortal god-king or whatever and so he naturally has no respect for anyone but it’s quite ironic (anti-black) that he had more smoke for Wakanda a nation largely removed from the politics of how the west have been steadily destroying the ecosystem.
Canonically we know Wakanda has the technology to be very green AND not shit where they eat. Their ecological footprint is also probably not that much. Cause the country’s population would probably not pass 10 mil people if that. And lets be honest MCU and the comics act like there are only 100 Wakandans in the entire country.
Due to the underwhelming lack of Wakandan involvement, the focus on this dumbass Namor conflict and the death at the end of the movie (utterly unnecessary btw… at least Angela Bassett got her flowers) makes the movie unwatchable and particularly unpalateable.
Whatever you think about the #RecastT’Challa crowd… they’re not exactly wrong that BP2 was kinda shit. Despite the standout performance from the cast and Letitia Wright especially (To whom I love) Coogler should release his original script for BP2
There are some hints of worldbuilding and context provided in the actions of the Wakandan leadership to stand fully by Shuri and her Mom. Also notable is Lord M’Baku’s loyalty and support of Shuri at a time where he would be perfectly justified to abandon ship.
(Where are the M’Baku/Shuri shippers for fucks sake???? THAT IS A MAN)
Chadwick’s passing while terrible shouldn’t have been the grounds to which the entire BP franchise halted.
And based on the comics following BP1 and the lack of content Marvel and the lack of Wakandans in other properties they definitely used his passing as an excuse to fuck loyal fans over.
MCU hates black characters and won't let black ppl give them money
Coogler (bless him) did a great job of modernizing Black Panther and giving us hints of the afro-futurism threads it could have.
HOWEVER. That man wrote a Killmonger movie in BP1 (and Kendrick made a Killmonger album)
Then a Namor movie for BP2 (as shown by the enduring empathy ppl seem to have for this disrespectful and homocidal fish man)
The album for Black Panther 2 was so underwhelming especially following BP1 where Ludwig and Kendrick put their entire foot into that bitch.
WTF is Rihanna doing on the track???? WAS JANELLE MONAE OR Beyoncé BUSY? Heck get an Amapiano/Afrobeats artist as the creative director at the very least.
Seeing the care Kendrick put into BP1 and the lackadaisal thrown together hot garbage we got in BP2 reeks of sexism tbh.
It’s funny Black Is King felt so much more like a BP2 album than what we got.
The treatment Okoye received in the movie felt so disrespectful and flat to me. They didn’t know Namor existed, she put an amazing fight but her loss made sense. Shuri is a princess and can’t be locked in Wakanda all the time wtf and she had a clear mission.
I liked that they told us something about what happened to W’Kabi and them (even if that narrative is kinda nonsensical cause lol apparently an entire tribe just disappeared overnight???????? Girl BYE)
Finally Ramonda’s tirade against the council and Okoye was so silly. Because we don’t KNOW anything about what happened between BP1 and BP2. The MCU pays its black fans dust. So all her claims of her sacrifice and grief is just not substantiated (outside of losing her husband and son… and her son died of natural causes lmao)
MIND YOU Okoye is one of the only reasons T’Challa beat Killmonger because she led the Dora Milaje to support his coup and we know canonly how much she loves Panther Tribe.
I have my own worldbuilding doc. Because MCU Black Panther gives us nothing and when I write fanfic it might as well be Original Fiction. I’m just making up this shit myself.
Don’t bring up the comics either, most writers seem to hate T’Challa, do the same 3 plots over and over AND have such shitty worldbuilding that does not respect Wakanda’s supposed awesomeness or have any legible afro-futurist framework.
I don't mind discussing any of the points I've made.
These topics don't exist in a vaccum, we don't know the behind the scenes for this movie AND we were all grieving Chadwick Boseman. Particularly the Black Panther cast
It's just as a Black Panther fan within the MCU I really felt betrayed and angry post 2022. And 2026 the only Wakandan focused property we have is Eyes of Wakanda......... lol
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