Warning: This article contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever might pay homage to both the character of King T’Challa and his much-missed performer Chadwick Boseman, but it also has one eye firmly fixed on the future as it sets up a ton of plotlines that can be expanded on in a myriad of upcoming MCU projects. In fact, one character’s particularly transformative arc may directly feed into the already confirmed spinoff that everyone seems to have forgotten about.
Although she’s far from the focus of the film, Okoye really has a tough time of it in Wakanda Forever. After Shuri is taken by Namor and the Talokanil, Queen Ramonda is so furious that she strips the Wakandan general of her rank and status as a Dora Milaje warrior. Once Ramonda dies and Shuri takes over command in the fight against Namor, however, Okoye gets herself an upgrade in the form of the Midnight Angel armor, which she wears into battle alongside Michaela Coel’s Aneka.
Unfortunately, we don’t find out whether Okoye is reinstated as general by the end of the movie, although it’s easy to imagine that she is, either by Shuri before she disappears to Haiti or by M’Baku once he takes over the throne. It’s possible this question was left dangling due to lack of time, but it’s also feasible that director Ryan Coogler and his team deliberately kept this open-ended in order to fuel Okoye’s own spinoff. That’s right, that’s a thing.
Back in May 2021, it was reliably reported that Marvel was working on an Okoye-centric series starring Danai Gurira. We’re not entirely sure, but it seems this is a separate project from the general Wakanda show that’s also in the works. While producer Nate Moore has admitted that the latter has stalled, with any luck the studio still has ideas for an Okoye vehicle, which could explore her and Aneka’s adventures as the Midnight Angels, maybe even operating outside of Wakanda. Hey, we’d watch it.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is playing in theaters now.
Published: Nov 15, 2022 09:23 am