Marvel’s Phase Four finale, Black Panther 2, gave the comic world a makeover with its ingenious story. Ryan Coogler’s vision for the sequel to 2018’s billion-dollar success was such that it never disappointed in a single aspect. All the threads that were left frayed and open by the end of 2019’s Endgame and 2020’s tragedy were gathered together and braided into a unified narrative that was more an honorarium than a comic book movie.
As the healing now begins, Marvel Studios VP of Production & Development, Nate Moore, divulges the nitty-gritty of what went into the making of the film, coming to terms with the loss of a legacy, and the reshaping that was put into effect after that loss.
Nate Moore Discloses Black Panther 2‘s Initial Subtitle
As early as 2019, the script for the Black Panther sequel that was already in motion had brought out the underwater world to the surface and pitted the kingdom of Namor against that of the Black Panther. But having lost his lead in 2020, Ryan Coogler had to reorient focus and reshape the script in a way that made more sense to the grieving cast, crew, and audience around the world. And one of the aspects involved settling on a subtitle for the Phase Four film.
While speaking to Collider, Nate Moore detailed the to and fro that went into settling on a subtitle that was fit for a king and for honoring his legacy — which was what Black Panther 2 was striving to make happen.
“You’re like, ‘Kingdom of the Deep’? You’re like, “Does it have to be about Namor?” Then we realized that ‘Wakanda Forever’ felt right, because it’s a story about triumph through adversity. It’s a story about legacy, it’s a story about persistence, and ‘Wakanda Forever’ says all those things. Initially, I will say this, at one point it was like, ‘Oh, that feels like the title of the third movie. Where do you go from Wakanda Forever? That feels like it’s the end.’ But no, actually it felt really appropriate thematically to the story we were trying to tell.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever not only did justice to its thematic structure, but the film also went above and beyond in elevating Chadwick Boseman‘s immortalized contribution and representation on the screen.
Ryan Coogler Made Changes to the Black Panther 2 Script
It was understandable that in the aftermath of losing the most fundamental element of a film that was to be the Marvel franchise’s biggest Phase Four event, Ryan Coogler who co-wrote the script with Joe Robert Cole, would want to see his film honoring the memory of his late friend. But at the same time, the story had to be poignant, subtle, respectable, and unabashed in its representation of grief. For a comic book movie, that was a tall order, but for every individual involved with the film, it was the only acceptable path to take. In an interview with Empire, Ryan Coogler revealed,
“Maturity is about being faced with impossible questions, and still making a choice and moving forward. [The film’s] unique [cast] is more like a band than it is a group of actors, and Chad was our lead singer. So for me, it was like, ‘How do I figure out a song that they can still get up there and sing?’, in light of what we were dealing with.”
The central question — How do you carry on in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds? — haunted the cast, the director, and their film’s central narrative. But it was in the wake of an incomprehensible loss that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was born. And it wasn’t just Letitia Wright who was given the opportunity “to grieve, cry, and laugh” but the world healed along with her by the time the lights came back on in the theatres.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now playing in theatres worldwide.
Source: Collider
