Black Panther: Wakanda Forever General Discussion and Speculation Thread

[Hannibal75]

Is there actually a groundswell of support against recasting Black Panther that made Disney back off? I know internet isn't the real world but the vast majority of the people I have interacted with online supported recasting and even those who didn't weren't treating it as a dealbraker.

Feige also was one of the few people aware of Boseman's condition, and yet he announced with great fanfare in 2019 that Black Panther 2 was in development with a tentative release date of February 2021. Did he really think back then that his ailing star would somehow be able to film another physically demanding movie? Something doesn't fit into that narrative.

 

[Schlosser85]

Is there actually a groundswell of support against recasting Black Panther that made Disney back off? I know internet isn't the real world but the vast majority of the people I have interacted with online supported recasting and even those who didn't weren't treating it as a dealbraker.

Feige also was one of the few people aware of Boseman's condition, and yet he announced with great fanfare in 2019 that Black Panther 2 was in development with a tentative release date of February 2021. Did he really think back then that his ailing star would somehow be able to film another physically demanding movie? Something doesn't fit into that narrative.

Where do you get it from that Feige was aware? Because the report we had before was that no one at Marvel or Disney knew until imminently before Boseman's death.

 

[Hannibal75]

Where do you get it from that Feige was aware? Because the report we had before was that no one at Marvel or Disney knew until imminently before Boseman's death.

Boseman himself alerted Feige and Coggler, IIRC, which was the obvious thing to do. You can't just hide that kind of information from the people who want to build a multi-million dollar franchise on you.

 

[Primal Slayer]

The only reports I remember are that no one from Disney/Marvel knew the extent of his sickness. He didn't have to tell marvel anything about his health as it wasnt part of his contract.

 

[Hannibal75]

The only reports I remember are that no one from Disney/Marvel knew the extent of his sickness. He didn't have to tell marvel anything about his health as it wasnt part of his contract.

And do you really believe it wasn't? We are talking about multi-billion dollar corporations here, they leave nothing in chance. Not to mention that Boseman hiding such critical information from his employers would have been a serious betrayal of their trust, letting Feige & Co make plans for Phase 4 and beyond based on the assumption that everything was fine.

 

[Frodo]

Is there actually a groundswell of support against recasting Black Panther that made Disney back off? I know internet isn't the real world but the vast majority of the people I have interacted with online supported recasting and even those who didn't weren't treating it as a dealbraker.

The no recast decision is probably the only time I've disagreed with Feige's judgement .

It seems to me that this is more of a decision made thinking of the short term ,than looking at it from a wholistic perspective , and thinking about what T'Challa represents to communities around the world , and thinking about the long term course of the character on film.

T'Challa and what he represents is bigger than one actor imo, and I feel like they may be slightly underestimating that.

In a sense, I can see how given the time constraints ,they may feel it isn't the right time to even begin thinking about recasting.

Then agan, I felt they really should have given it a few more years before going into BP2. But they've made their decision , and only time will tell if their judgement was sound.

 

[Primal Slayer]

And do you really believe it wasn't? We are talking about multi-billion dollar corporations here, they leave nothing in chance. Not to mention that Boseman hiding such critical information from his employers would have been a serious betrayal of their trust, letting Feige & Co make plans for Phase 4 and beyond based on the assumption that everything was fine.

There are plenty of actors who haven't signed such things so yeah I believe it. It isnt something that is just made up for fun of the situation. Boseman expected to beat it and unfortunately didn't.

 

[Hannibal75]

There are plenty of actors who haven't signed such things so yeah I believe it. It isnt something that is just made up for fun of the situation. Boseman expected to beat it and unfortunately didn't.

The thing is MCU stars aren't like most other actors. They have entire franchises built on them and are expected to play their parts for years (or decades). Marvel movies aren't one and done deals. And when every one of them is a potential member of the billion dollar club , you better believe that Disney wants to know EVERYTHING about their stars that might be problematic for their plans.

And besides all the legal stuff, Boseman seemed to me like a good guy. I seriously doubt that he would have blindsided the people who trusted him with such a plum role and gave him the opportunity to become an icon for his community. Even if he expected to beat his illness he would have informed the producer and director of his movie in order to make their contingency plans.

 

[Lencho01]

Disney/Marvel isn't going to invade the private lives of their actors if there's no reason to and Boseman clearly gave them no reasons to do so.

And let's not act like when Black Panther was first getting made, people were thinking it'd make $1 billion from the jump.

 

[baerrtt]

I feel nowadays unless your rebooting a continuity franchises have been more than okay recently to not recast lead characters when the actor decides to leave or in this sad case dies.

The Fast And The Furious production team similarly chose not to recast Paul Walker's part following his passing and yes T'Challa is a more important character but I understand and accept the decision.

Also speaking as a black man who loved the BP concept decades before we got the movies I'm not taking this as personally as some are choosing to. Real life, sometimes, has to take precedence and significance over fiction and Chadwick 's death has clearly, as it should, affected his colleagues enough into this choice being made.

One final thing...The actual appeal of BP, the movie, to worldwide audiences was seeing a cast of black men AND women in spaces past eras of big, populist cinema had denied and locked them out of. Losing the character of T'Challa does not erase that come 2022.

 

[Detective Conan]

The thing is MCU stars aren't like most other actors. They have entire franchises built on them and are expected to play their parts for years (or decades). Marvel movies aren't one and done deals. And when every one of them is a potential member of the billion dollar club , you better believe that Disney wants to know EVERYTHING about their stars that might be problematic for their plans.

And besides all the legal stuff, Boseman seemed to me like a good guy. I seriously doubt that he would have blindsided the people who trusted him with such a plum role and gave him the opportunity to become an icon for his community. Even if he expected to beat his illness he would have informed the producer and director of his movie in order to make their contingency plans.

Nate Moore(one of the producers of BP) and VP of production and development at Marvel Studios already indicated he wasn’t aware of Chadwick’s condition at the time in a recent interview. They were just as blind-sighted by the news as any of us. According to HR, Feige actually learned of Chadwick’s demise the same day we did through a email.

 

[Webfoot Hero]

One big issue Marvel now has is they don't really have a black male actor leading one of their movie franchises now that they've sidelined T'Challa without Boseman. Their only current leading black male actors (Anthony Mackie, Samuel L Jackson, and Don Cheadle) are only going to leading Disney+ shows. There won't be a black male actor leading an MCU film until they get Blade going with Mahershala Ali. Heck they don't have a lot of black males actors as heroes period. Winston Duke is a supporting actor, T.I. is a minor supporting character, Laurence Fishburne is a supporting actor, Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos in Eternals) feels like he's going to be a supporting actor. Then you have Chiwitel Ejiofor and Jonathan Majors are going to be major villains when they show up in their next films.

 

[Zarex]

I wouldn't diminish the Disney Plus shows, as they will be a huge part of the MCU going forward. The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Secret Invasion and Armor Wars ain't Helstrom or Runaways.

Losing T'Challa for now is a huge honking deal. He's like Wonder Woman in that no other black hero comes close to him in terms of history and impact, especially after his record breaking film. But refusing to recast was absolutely the right call. And we may see the character further down the line in a prequel or a resurrection - T'Challa is the King of the Dead. Or the BP title may be passed down to his son with Nakia when he comes of age.

If you had told young me that Black Panther would appear in four wildly sucessful Marvel films, including a record breaking solo movie, I would have called you a liar. What Feige, Coogler and the folks at Marvel Studios created is astounding. We should applaud their past work and have confidence they made the right decision.

 

[Kev4000]

There won't be a black male actor leading an MCU film until they get Blade going with Mahershala Ali.

I thinks its nearly save F4 will have at least one POC member and I think the situation for black audience is better then ever. And Blade is not so far away with 2023 with Black Panther already in 2022 and a black captain america 2021. So no (big) reason to complain about, specially in compare to Latinos, Europes and Asians.

 

[Gladius Nova]

I thinks its nearly save F4 will have at least one POC member and I think the situation for black audience is better then ever. And Blade is not so far away with 2023 with Black Panther already in 2022 and a black captain america 2021. So no (big) reason to complain about, specially in compare to Latinos, Europes and Asians.

Naw....F4 members will be all white...and that would be OK with the Black population...and the general movie going population, not the -1% of internet fanatics. That would be "trying too hard" to stay woke. They will have a supporting cast member(s) as a POC though...like maybe a love interest for the Human Torch or The Thing (like in the previous movie) or any other minority.

 

[Havok83]

Then that person would have shown up with T'Challa, Okoye and Shuri when they emerged from the portal.

Hw do you know they didnt? There was alot going on and that seems liek something easy enough to retcon

 

[Gamma Goliath]

I think there's an extremely high chance the FF won't be all white again.

 

[baerrtt]

Naw....F4 members will be all white...and that would be OK with the Black population...and the general movie going population, not the -1% of internet fanatics. That would be "trying too hard" to stay woke. They will have a supporting cast member(s) as a POC though...like maybe a love interest for the Human Torch or The Thing (like in the previous movie) or any other minority.

Watching the Disney Investor Day it's clear,that the movie production studios are straying far from the days of having all white protagonists in their tentpoles and thus I've a strong feeling that, once again, we're getting a F4 team on the big screen that will be diverse.

 

[Havok83]

Watching the Disney Investor Day it's clear,that the movie production studios are straying far from the days of having all white protagonists in their tentpoles and thus I've a strong feeling that, once again, we're getting a F4 team on the big screen that will be diverse.

The only one I could see them changing the race of is Reed.

Johnny has already had his race changed so I dont see them doing that again with either Storm sibling. As one of the few visible Jewish Marvel character, I dont see them doing that with Ben eithe, especially with him needing to be CGI, it would be pointless anyway. That leaves Reed.

 

[Detective Conan]

The only one I could see them changing the race of is Reed.

Johnny has already had his race changed so I dont see them doing that again with either Storm sibling. As one of the few visible Jewish Marvel character, I dont see them doing that with Ben eithe, especially with him needing to be CGI, it would be pointless anyway. That leaves Reed.

Eh, I still think they could still change the races of every one of them except Ben. I actually think it’s likely Sue’s race will be changed. Trank did actually wanted black actress for the role but was overruled in favor of a up and coming actress like a Kate Mara. If Watts can change MJ into a black woman, he certainly can do the same for Susan. Plus, I actually would want a POC Sue Storm since I think it’d be nice to continue the trend of getting powerful POC superheroes in the MCU after Valkyrie and Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau. Sue, by the way, is the most powerful member of the team, and really think about the statement you’d be making turning a traditionally white powerful character into a member of a traditionally powerless and oppressed demographic like a black women. It would be really empowering representation.

 

[Detective Conan]

Watching the Disney Investor Day it's clear,that the movie production studios are straying far from the days of having all white protagonists in their tentpoles and thus I've a strong feeling that, once again, we're getting a F4 team on the big screen that will be diverse.

That version of the team wasn’t even “diverse”. It was mostly a white team with one black person thrown in the mix.

 

[Zarex]

The only one I could see them changing the race of is Reed.

Johnny has already had his race changed so I dont see them doing that again with either Storm sibling. As one of the few visible Jewish Marvel character, I dont see them doing that with Ben eithe, especially with him needing to be CGI, it would be pointless anyway. That leaves Reed.

That's my thinking as well. Non white Reed should still look like comic book Reed while that's not the case for the traditionally fair skinned and fair haired Storm siblings.

 

[Havok83]

Eh, I still think they could still change the races of every one of them except Ben. I actually think it’s likely Sue’s race will be changed. Trank did actually wanted black actress for the role but was overruled in favor of a up and coming actress like a Kate Mara. If Watts can change MJ into a black woman, he certainly can do the same for Susan. Plus, I actually would want a POC Sue Storm since I think it’d be nice to continue the trend of getting powerful POC superheroes in the MCU after Valkyrie and Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau. Sue, by the way, is the most powerful member of the team, and really think about the statement you’d be making turning a traditionally white powerful character into a member of a traditionally powerless and oppressed demographic like a black women. It would be really empowering representation.

MJ was not changed into a black woman. She isnt in the MCU. Sue already had her race changed, being played by a multiracial latina.

 

[Detective Conan]

MJ was not changed into a black woman. She isnt in the MCU.

Sue already had her race changed, being played by a multiracial latina.

She was hardly ‘race-bent’. Alba is 87% White.

 

[Web-Head]

Well, it's the "world of Wakanda" part that pretty much tells me they might be dealing with things outside of T'Challa even if there may be a connection to him somehow. Kinda like the comic "World of Wakanda."

I just don't see them doing a movie about the character being dead and his impact on the others. Not exactly the type of thing you want to followup a $1 billion film with.

I still think they're better off changing it from "Black Panther II" to "The World of Wakanda"

Any chance that this may take place in the 5 year gap between the Avengers film and focus on Wakanda as it recovers in the wake of the Snap? That would explain why T'Challa isnt there. Okoye, Nakia and M'Baku can step forward as the leads. This film can serve as an origin story for the next chapter in BP and introduce someone that might take over the mantle in future films. Maybe someone already did in that time and we will be introduced to him here

I doubt this will be the case, but it makes sense.