Black Panther: Wakanda Forever(2022)

Submitted by Jeremy

The kingdom of Wakanda mourns the loss of T’Challa. Complicating matters is the presence of the Talokans, an underwater kingdom led by Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejia), the Feathered Serpent God. He meets Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) and Shuri (Letitia Wright) to tell them that T’Challa’s act of exposing Wakanda to the outside world led to the outsiders attempting to take vibranium by force, and since Talokan also possesses vibranium, Namor believes that their kingdom would become vulnerable to attack. He orders the Wakandans to locate the scientist responsible for creating a vibranium-detecting machine that the CIA has used.

Shuri and Okoye find that the scientist is a college student named Riri Williams. While they try to keep her safe, the Talokans attack and take both Shuri and Riri to their kingdom. Ramonda locates Nakia for help in rescuing Shuri. Namor tells Shuri about his people’s backstory and how his hatred for the surface world stems from watching conquistadors raid and enslave the villagers where his mother came from, as it was their disease and violence that forced the Talokans to seek help that eventually drove them underwater with enhanced capabilities. When Nakia rescues Shuri, she ends up killing a Talokan warrior, which Namor takes as a sign of attack. He leads an attack against Wakanda by flooding the city, causing Ramonda’s death when she rescues Riri from drowning.

Shuri manages to create a synthetic heart-shaped herb from material given to her by Namor, along with T’Challa’s DNA. This allows her to take the herb and become the new Black Panther. She gathers the tribes in Wakanda and plans with Riri to draw Namor to them so they may dry him out and weaken him. The Wakandans and Talokans engage in battle, with Riri utilizing her new iron suit, and Okoye uses a Midnight Angel suit developed by Shuri. Shuri traps Namor and fights him, with him nearly winning until she manages to burn and weaken him. Although she thinks about killing him, she ultimately calls for a truce so that neither of their people suffer in their quests for vengeance. Namor agrees and calls off the fight, later telling his cousin Namora that it was necessary since Wakanda has no other allies and this will work in their favor later on.

Shuri sends Riri back home before going to Haiti where she can properly mourn T’Challa. There, Nakia introduces Shuri to her and T’Challa’s son, Toussaint.