Kevin Feige has made the bold proclamation of calling Black Panther: Wakanda Forever the most important installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, so it’s encouraging to see the early reviews and reactions mirror its landmark status.
At the time of writing, the second installment holds a strong Rotten Tomatoes score of 87 percent, and it’s poised to take a massive bite out of the box office this weekend. There’s an awful lot of moving parts required to create a project as tragically troubled as Wakanda Forever, but one critic appears to have missed the point entirely.
While praising many aspects of the film, David Ehrlich also opted to take a shot at Black Panther 2 for loading up with far too much in the way of “Marvel nonsense”, and all you have to do is scroll through the comments and replies to get an inkling of just how wide of the mark his thoughts are being interpreted by the fandom.
Let’s not forget that Wakanda Forever isn’t just the sequel to a monster-sized critical, commercial, and cultural phenomenon, or even a blockbuster placed in the unfortunate situation of picking up the pieces and carrying on its world-building in the wake of star Chadwick Boseman’s death.
It’s also the culmination of Phase Four that eases audiences into the meat of the Multiverse Saga, the introduction of the MCU’s second major mutant in the form of Tenoch Huerta’s Namor that’s eventually going to lead into the X-Men reboot, and the debut of Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams, star of upcoming Disney Plus series Ironheart. The “Marvel nonsense” isn’t just window-dressing, because Wakanda Forever is already looking to be a pivotal moment for the long-term future of the entire operation.
