Last month, Michaela Coel revealed that she ultimately decided to play the role of Aneka in the upcoming Black Panther sequel because her character is not only a captain, but also queer.
Coel told Vogue, “That sold me on the role; the fact that my character is queer.” Now, it seems that the queer representation may only be in name.
Grace Randolph, who runs a popular YouTube channel called Beyond the Trailer, made such observations in her recent upload about Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In the video, she refers to Michaela Coel’s performance as Aneka by stating, “Her role is quite small. To her credit though, she still is able to break through and make a strong impression.”
However, after explaining that Ayo is supposed to be Aneka’s love interest, Randolph adds, “Unfortunately, her romance with Ayo has been almost entirely cut out from the film except for a blink-and-you-miss-it kiss.”
In the comics, Aneka and Ayo fall in love as members of the Midnight Angels. The two characters are fairly strong supporting characters in the comics and, in the case of Ayo, throughout the MCU.
Coel, whose parents were born in Ghana, had also expressed interest in the role because she wanted to show a strong queer character to the Ghanaian audience, something she feels is important to begin to create change in her home country, where anti-gay laws are sadly prominent.
The queer representation is further head-scratching when you consider that the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment is simply a kiss on the forehead. This prompted Randolph to comment, “Perhaps in terms of queer-baiting, this is a problem for Disney in particular. You think the Star Wars thing was underselling but at least that was a romantic kiss.”
Randolph is referring to the moment near the end of the Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker film in which two unnamed queer characters kiss, which was was also called a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment — yet, ironically, now seems significantly more progressive than this one.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be released in theaters Nov. 9 internationally, and Nov. 11 in the United States.
