The director of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ryan Coogler, explained why T’Challa died and why it couldn’t have been in battle.
Black Panther 2 is one of the most emotionally charged MCU films and one of the most personal.
Because of Chadwick Boseman’s untimely death and the decision not to recast the actor, Wakanda Forever reflected the real-life experiences of the cast and crew and the audience.
One of the most striking parallels was T’Challa’s death, which, like Boseman’s, was caused by illness.
While Marvel fans have seen main characters die before, it was usually due to a battle, sacrifice, or a Mad Titan’s snap. But, according to Ryan Coogler, T’Challa’s cause of death was entirely determined by his sister, the next Black Panther.
Also, Read Supposedly, the upcoming MCU Phase 5 film will address the Eternals’ demise.
The Reason T’Challa Didn’t Perish in Battle
In an interview with The New York Times, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler and screenwriter Joe Robert Cole explained why they included the death of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa in the sequel.
When asked why they chose T’Challa’s funeral as the film’s opening scene, Cole explained that they “needed to introduce a different version of Shuri” to set up her journey:
“Everyone was going to be watching to see how we dealt with it, so doing it right away made sense. We needed to introduce a different version of Shuri [T’Challa’s sister, played by Letitia Wright] in terms of characters. We’re depicting the moment when she transforms into someone other than the person we met. She is the most intelligent person on the planet, but she cannot save her brother. What effect does that have on you?”
Coogler went even deeper into Letitia Wright’s character’s transformation into a “different person,” referring to the “transformative quality of grief” and how a person becomes “completely different in some ways:”
“We wanted to have a conversation that was emotionally intelligent. It’s about the transformative power of loss and trauma. With emotional trauma, it’s common to believe that all you need is time. ‘Oh, give them a couple of weeks off; they’ll come back to work and get right back to it,’ says the boss. But that person is not the same in some ways. You simply do not notice it because the change is not visible.”
When asked why the team chose to have T’Challa die of illness and how this affected Shuri, Coogler cited the character’s failure to recreate the heart-shaped herb, saying, “we didn’t want her to have anywhere to displace her anger.”
In other words, there is no outside force, no coordinated attack, and no Thanos or Infinity Stone gauntlet to blame.
This was the impetus for Shuri’s personal arc, as Coogler explained because she was in “a situation where the only place to go was internal:”
“Shuri would have searched for the person who had taken T’Challa out. We wanted it to be a situation in which the only option was to go internally.”
How Ryan Coogler’s Choice Made Shuri a Leader
One of the biggest questions leading up to the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was how Coogler and his team would address and incorporate Boseman’s death into the film.
Discovering that T’Challa died from similar causes to the actor was both surprising and fitting for most audiences.
It not only blurred the lines between Boseman and his character, but it also grounded the MCU in the fact that superheroes are human as well. And now that we know why Coogler made his decision, it’s difficult to imagine Marvel handling T’Challa’s death any other way.
As the director pointed out, if T’Challa died as a result of an attack, “Shuri would have sought out that individual. ” She would be more concerned with overcoming an external threat than with overcoming something within herself. Her story would have been reactive.
The fact that Coogler was able to prioritize story and character while also dealing with real-life loss is a testament to his abilities as a director and storyteller; it also set the stage for Shuri’s MCU future.
Her intelligence has always made her useful, but her newfound personal growth and empathy qualify her to lead.
Namor said it best when he said, “Only the most broken people can be great leaders.”
Also, Read Daredevil Star Reveals One Major Difference Between Disney+ Reboot and Netflix