Death is an integral part of superhero movies, and it’s not just villains who die. That much is especially clear in the MCU, as Marvel has been using tragic events to drive home the point that stakes are high in these adventures. Heroes get hurt, and some die. Even beloved characters who we hate seeing pass away. Any fan going into Black Panther: Wakanda Forever should expect death, especially considering what Marvel showed in the trailers.
We will witness a war between Wakanda and Talokan, and all sorts of people will get hurt. It’s not just nameless civilians who might die in the sequel. Wakanda Forever will bring the death of at least one central character. That’s not a spoiler, either. Even though it’ll happen off-screen, Wakanda Forever will include the death of T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman).
That said, there’s a big Wakanda Forever plot leak floating around that gives us more details about the heartbreaking events we’ll witness in the movie. Big spoilers will follow below.
The death of T’Challa
When Marvel announced it would not recast T’Challa in Wakanda Forever, we knew that Black Panther 2 would have to address the character’s second death. As we’ve explained, T’Challa already “died” in Infinity War. But then the Avengers brought everyone back in Endgame.
The first Wakanda Forever trailer made it clear that the movie will also pay homage to the late Chadwick Boseman. The actor passed away a few years ago before work on Black Panther 2 had started.
The Wakanda Forever plot leak we saw a few days ago told us the movie will open with T’Challa’s death. We won’t see the character. Instead, we’ll experience Shuri (Letitia Wright) frantically trying to recreate the Heart-Shaped Herb to save her dying brother.
Shuri will obviously fail, and T’Challa will die of an unknown illness. We also saw pieces of his funeral ceremony in Wakanda Forever trailers.
T’Challa’s death will occur a year before the main action in Wakanda Forever. Therefore, the events surrounding his death will be more like a cold open for the movie.
The major character death in Wakanda Forever
The trailers revealed that Wakanda and Namor’s nation will be at war in Black Panther 2. It’s all about the world’s search for Vibranium, with Namor (Tenoch Huerta) feeling the threat. A disagreement between him and Wakanda’s leader will cause the all-out war we see in the trailers and promo clips.
This war will cause plenty of collateral damage. The flood of Wakanda alone is the kind of disaster that can claim plenty of lives. Add the fighting, and there will be plenty of death in the sequel.
But one major character will die in Wakanda Forever, according to the big plot leak. That’s Ramonda (Angela Bassett), the Queen of Wakanda. The trailers made it very clear that Ramonda is the nation’s leader following the deaths of her husband and son.
Not only that, but Bassett looks poised to steal some of the scenes she’s in. She plays one of the supporting characters in Wakanda Forever who will be fun to watch. However, Ramonda will apparently die in Black Panther 2. That’s something people might have speculated already.
The aforementioned plot leak tells us that Ramonda will die during Namor’s attack:
[The Talokan] attack Wakanda and Shuri, Riri [Dominique Thorne], Okoye [Danai Gurira] struggle to evacuate and save as many people as possible, Namor starts demolishing anything they throw at him, culminating in him partially flooding Wakanda and attempting to drown Riri and Ramonda. Ramonda saves an unconscious Riri from death at the cost of her own life, devastating Shuri, now with no living relatives.
Ramonda’s death will convince Shuri to take on the Black Panther mantle and go after Namor.
Will Namor die?
One of the annoying things about Black Panther is that Marvel got rid of the villain much too soon. The MCU could have used Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) in other adventures.
This isn’t about T’Challa’s cousin getting a redemption arc or becoming the next Black Panther after Boseman’s death. After all, nobody could have foreseen the actor’s tragic passing. But Killmonger could have been an interesting character to explore in more Marvel stories.
With that in mind, MCU fans might be wondering already if Marvel will kill Namor in Wakanda Forever. We have some good news on that front, thankfully. Namor is a much more significant character than Killmonger. On top of that, Marvel is careful about no portraying him as a true villain.
Namor will fight Wakanda and Black Panther in the sequel, but only because he feels he’s protecting his people. Just like the Avengers would defy anyone to save the world, as we’ve seen time and time again.
Namor might be an antagonist in Wakanda Forever, but he could become a full-fledged hero in the future. He might even join the Avengers.
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