When Thanos wiped out half the universe in Avengers: Infinity War, he annihilated some established heroes in the process. One death that was amongst the most shocking was that of T’Challa. Despite there being a Black Panther sequel in the works, who knows what kind of adventures will take place in Wakanda going forward now that the King is dead.
According to executive producer Nate Moore, the filmmakers behind the picture knew all along that T’Challa would perish in Infinity War, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be able to continue on with a sequel to Ryan Coogler’s smash hit.
“We knew pretty early on,” Moore said. “So I was fortunate enough to be in those early writers rooms with Chris [Markus] and Steve [McFeely] and Joe [Russo] and Anthony [Russo] when they were breaking Infinity War and Avengers 4, so I knew what was coming and knew that they had a really good reason for choosing the characters they did. I think it was probably a bigger shock honestly for Ryan Coogler, but here’s the good news, I think we were able to deliver a film that stands on its own and that carves out a very special place in the Marvel universe.”
Of course, there are still plenty of avenues that the Black Panther franchise can go in if T’Challa doesn’t come back to life and reclaim his throne. For instance, there’s the proposed Dora Milaje spinoff that Coogler’s interested in doing, while Shuri could also inherit the mantle from her brother like she has in the comics.
That’s something which Moore touched on as well in the interview, saying that there are a lot more stories to tell.
“The truth is, Black Panther is a mantle almost as much as it’s a character, so there’s a lot of different ways we can take the storytelling going forward because the world of Wakanda is so vast and so interesting that we have some great ideas.”
Continuing on, he also mentioned that since they knew what was coming in Infinity War, and what’ll happen in Avengers 4, they’ve been able to plan accordingly – which was no doubt tremendously helpful.
“We know there’s a ton more story to tell in Wakanda because even in the two hours we had there were ideas we left on the table just because of time. And the good news is, because ultimately we have a good insight on what all the films are doing, we knew what Infinity War and what Avengers 4 next year will do and are able to sort of plan accordingly.
So I think there are great stories that will feel like the necessary next storytelling beat from what you’ve seen in Black Panther, but also carry the ball forward from what happened, the very real thing that happened at the end of Avengers 3 and what will again happen next May. So it’s all been planned out to as much as we plan anything out frankly, with room for great ideas to come and surprise us, but we’re excited. There’s still a ton of story left to tell.”
As for when we can expect the next Black Panther movie, well, it won’t be for a while, as Moore wants to wait until Infinity War‘s sequel is out in the wild before they do anything further.
“I can’t imagine us doing anything before Avengers 4 is out in the world. We really want to complete that storytelling before we start talking about what’s next. And again, knowing what Joe and Anthony have in store I think is really exciting. So hopefully audiences can come to that and watch that film on its own terms and then hopefully shortly after that we can talk about where we think we can go.”
When Black Panther became the box office juggernaut that it is now, it turned into a keystone of the conversation surrounding inclusivity on screen. And by at least continuing the hero’s legacy – even if T’Challa isn’t involved – Marvel will be able to keep the conversation going. So no matter what happens, Wakanda might still be forever. Though that being said, we fully expect Chadwick Boseman’s hero to be back in time for Avengers 4.