All the ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Spoilers About What Happens to T’Challa & Who’s the Next Black Panther

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Like any movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoilers and leaks were everywhere before the movie came out. If you haven’t made it to the theaters (or just can’t wait to find out what happens), we have the spoilers on what happens in Black Panther 2.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the second movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Black Panther series and the 30th film in the franchise overall. The movie—which is the final film in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe—follows Shuri (Letitia Wright), Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), Okoye (Danai Gurira) and other leaders of the Kingdom of Wakanda as they fight to protect their nation from from a threat from the undersea nation of Tlālōcān in the wake of the death of King T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman.) Boseman—who played King T’Challa / Black Panther in four Marvel Cinematic Universe movies: 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, 2018’s Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War, and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame—died of colon cancer on August 28, 2020. He was 43 years old.

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In an interview with Empire magazine in 2022, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige explained why the studio decided to not recast T’Challa after Boseman’s death.“It just felt like it was much too soon to recast,” he said. “Stan Lee always said that Marvel represents the world outside your window. And we had talked about how, as extraordinary and fantastical as our characters and stories are, there’s a relatable and human element to everything we do. The world is still processing the loss of Chad. And [director] Ryan [Coogler] poured that into the story.” He continued, “The conversations were entirely about, yes, ‘What do we do next?’ And how could the legacy of Chadwick — and what he had done to help Wakanda and the Black Panther become these incredible, aspirational, iconic ideas — continue? That’s what it was all about.”

Winston Duke, who plays M’Baku in the Black Panther movies, also explained in an interview on the “Jemele Hill is Unbothered” podcast in 2022 why he agreed with Feige’s decision to not recast Boseman as T’Challa. I think for this iteration of Black Panther, it’s very hard for me to comment on something like that because I’m of the mind that this is Chadwick’s role. Chadwick created this and Black Panther wouldn’t be the same without Chadwick Boseman who stood for the things that he stood for. When you cast a person, you’re also casting their experiences, you’re casting their politics, you’re casting all these things. Black Panther was heavily defined by the actor that did it, in my opinion,” he said.

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So what happens in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever?. Read on for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoilers about what happens to T’Challa, Shuri and more characters in Marvel’s newest movie.

What are the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoilers and leaks?

Read on for a list of unconfirmed Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoilers and leaks from Reddit.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoiler: The movie starts with T’Challa’s death

"Black Panther"
"Black Panther"

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever starts with T’Challa’s death. The first scene sees Shuri try to synthetically re-create the Heart-Shaped Herb, which was destroyed by Killmonger in the first Black Panther movie. Before she could successfully re-create the herb, which Shuri believed could cure T’Challa from his unknown disease, she learns from their mother Queen Ramonda that he had died. The scene continues with T’Challa’s funeral.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoiler: Namor wants to kill Riri Williams

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"

Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne)—a teenage engineering student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who becomes Ironheart in Disney Plus’ 2023 show of the same name—is the main plot device for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Riri develops a device to find Vibranium in the ocean, which Dr. Graham (Lake Bell, who also voiced Black Widow / Natasha Romanoff in Disney Plus’ What If…?) uses to find Namor’s people, who become angry and kill Graham’s team. He asks Ramonda and Shuri for help to kill Riri next, but they refuses and protect Riri within their borders. Reddit threads have compared Riri’s role to America Chavez in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in how both characters are the main plot devices for their respective movies’ storylines. Riri’s first Ironheart suit is made of spare car parts, but she receives a Vibranium suit in Wakanda by the end of the movie.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoiler: Namor is a mutant

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"

After he kidnaps Shuri and Riri, Namor reveals he is a mutant has the ability to fly from wings on his ankles, much like his character in the Marvel Comics. The first mutant introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was Kamala Khan, also known as Ms. Marvel, in Disney Plus’ Ms. Marvel series.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoiler: Shuri is the next Black Panther

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"

Later in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Shuri re-creates the Heart-Shaped Herb, a plant that only grows in Wakanda that’s said to be a gift from the Panther God. In reality, the plant is a mutation from a Vibranium meteorite that crashed into earth. Still, to become the Black Panther, a warrior must defeat the current Black Panther and fight six of Wakanda’s greatest warriors. If they’re successful, they have the Heart-Shaped Herb applied to their body. Shuri’s re-creation of the Heart-Shaped Herb came after she said she would do so in the 2020 Marvel book, The Wakanda Files: A Technological Exploration of the Avengers and Beyond, which includes a tie-in to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Once Shuri takes the Heart-Shaped Herb, she expects to see her ancestors, including her late older brother, T’Challa, in the ancestral plane, but instead she sees Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), who died in the first Black Panther movie.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoiler: Okoye is the Midnight Angel

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"

Along with Shuri, who becomes the new Black Panther, Okoye, the general of the Dora Milaje, becomes the Midnight Angel and wears a new suit. Other Dora Milaje members also wear special enhanced suits. In the Marvel Comics, the Midnight Angels are a subgroup of the Dora Milaje.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoiler: Attuma & Okoye fight

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"

that Attuma, an exiled Atlantean who wants to become the king of Atlantis, and Namora, Namor’s cousin, also appear in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and fight with Okoye before they defeat her and kidnap Riri and Shuri.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoiler: Queen Ramonda dies

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"

T’Challa and Shuri’s mother, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett), dies in a flood that occurs in a massive war between Atlantis and Wakanda. In the end, Shuri defeats Namor but doesn’t kill him.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoiler: M’Baku is the new leader of Wakanda

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"

At the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, M’Baku becomes the new leader of Wakanda. The ending sees Shuri skip a ceremony to celebrate her becoming the new protector of Wakanda and send M’Baku in her place to take the throne. According to a Reddit thread, Shuri was originally set to become the new queen of Wakanda after her mother died, but the end was rewritten after Letitia Wright’s anti-vaccination controversy. (Though M’Baku becomes the new leader, Shuri is still the new Black Panther.) Wright came under fire in 2020 after she posted a YouTube video, in which the presenter expressed doubts over the COVID-19 vaccine and its origins. “if you don’t conform to popular opinions. but ask questions and think for yourself….you get cancelled,” Wright wrote in a since-deleted tweet with a laughing-face emoji. She followed the post with a second tweet: “my intention was not to hurt anyone, my ONLY intention of posting the video was it raised my concerns with what the vaccine contains and what we are putting in our bodies. Nothing else.” Wright also made clear that she wasn’t telling her followers to not take the COVID-19 vaccine, but wanted to express her concern “about what’s in it” She added, “I think it’s valid and fair to simply ask what’s in it.”

The Hollywood Reporter also reported in 2021 that Wright had expressed similar views over COVID-19 vaccines on the set of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in Atlanta, Georgia, and that she had split from her team of representatives in the United States in December 2020 over the video she posted. Wright responded to the claims in an Instagram post at the time: “God bless you all. It saddens me to have to address the reports published by The Hollywood Reporter on October 6th 2021. The report spoke about my conduct on the set of black Panther 2. I honestly assert that this was completely untrue. Anyone who knows me or has worked with me, knows that I work incredibly hard at my craft & my main focus is always to do work that’s impactful and inspiring. That has been & will continue to be my only focus. I will continue to hold onto Gods hands, and onto the scripture of Isaiah 54:17. I continue to focus on my healing. Thank you for your prayers. And I continue to pray for Gods love, peace & joy for you all,” she wrote.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoiler: Nakia and T’Challa have a child

At the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Nakia reveals to Shuri that she became pregnant with T’Challa’s baby before he died and had his child, whom she raised in secret in Haiti. Shuri and the child, a son named Toussaint, meet at the end of the movie. According to a Reddit thread, Marvel plans for the child to take over the Black Panther title when he grows up.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoiler: There is one post-credits scene

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"
"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"

There is one post-credits scene in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which occurs in the mid credits and introduces T’Challa and Nakia’s son. Previous leaks claimed that the first post-credits scene featured Doctor Doom, while the second post-credits scene featured Nakia and T’Challa’s son, however those rumors were debunked. The previous leaks reported that Doctor Doom appeared in the first post-credits scene and reveals that he was the villain who orchestrated the war between Wakanda and Atlantis. Another rumor also claimed that Dr. Graham (Lake Bell) was secretly Lucia Von Bardas, Doctor Doom’s sidekick. Those leaks were disproven when sources reported that Doctor Doom makes no appearance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Will there be a Black Panther 3?

Will there be a Black Panther 3? In an interview with Collider in 2022, producer Nate Moore confirmed that there had been ideas “floated around” for Black Panther 3, but a third movie hadn’t been confirmed yet. “That’s a great question. To be honest, this is not me trying to not answer the question. We really want to see how audiences receive the film, and I think Ryan’s really interested to see how the film plays before we decide,” he said. “There are certainly ideas we’ve floated around of what a third film could be if we get to make it. But until the movie comes out, we’re a bit superstitious in that way. We don’t want to count our chickens, because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Moore also told Gizmodo that he would want director Ryan Coogler to return for Black Panther 3, but it depends on how fans respond to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. “That’s the million-dollar question,” he said “Look, you never want to count your chickens before they hatch and the movie’s not out yet. Right now it’s like, let’s see how people respond to this film. But the hope is audiences demand that we make another one and certainly, there have been ideas thrown around. So we’ll see.”

Coogler, for his part, told Gizmodo that he hasn’t thought much about Black Panther 3.  “I haven’t thought about it, to be honest,” he said. “When it comes to writing and directing, I’m not the world’s greatest multitasker. I kind of got to do what is in front of me and be singular. When it comes to producing, I’m more geared up to be able to do multiple things. And to plan things, I’ve got a great production company and fantastic collaborators that can help move things along. But when it comes to writing, and in this case, co-writing and directing, I’ve got to finish what’s in front of me and then and then think of all that is happening after that.”

Coogler also told Collider at the time that his focus at the time was on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is why there hadn’t been much progress on Black Panther 3. “I’m a husband and a dad now, so I’m trying to live a long time, you know what I’m saying? And I hope to work a long time,” he said. “And I love making movies, it fills me with a sense of joy that I hope every human can find in their life. And I hope can maintain that joy and make more things of various sizes. But truth be told, like right now, I’m just focusing on [Black Panther: Wakanda Forever] and getting this done, because it’s still a lot of work to do before this comes out to the world. And once that’s over, I’m going to sit and think about what’s next.”

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is in theaters now. The first Black Panther movie is available to stream on Disney Plus. Here’s how to watch it for free.

"Chadwick Boseman: Forever Our King" by Mia Johnson
"Chadwick Boseman: Forever Our King" by Mia Johnson

Chadwick Boseman: Forever Our King by Mia Johnson

Buy: ‘Chadwick Boseman: Forever Our King’ by Mia Johnson $13.96

For more about Black Panther and Chadwick Boseman, read Mia Johnson’s 2020 biography, Chadwick Boseman: Forever Our King. The book, which was published four months after Boseman’s death from colon cancer on August 28, 2020 at the age of 43, takes Marvel fans through Boseman’s career and life from how he was cast as King T’Challa in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Black Panther franchise to his secret diagnosis with colon cancer in 2016, two years before the premiere of the first Black Panther movie. The biography—which donates a portion of its proceeds to Fight Colorectal Cancer, an organization dedicating to researching and raising awareness around rectal cancer—also includes dozens of full-color photographs and details about Boseman’s childhood in South Carolina and his final days before his death. “If you love Chadwick Boseman, and who doesn’t, you need this book,” one reviewer wrote.

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"Watch This Space" - Amazon Prime Video
"Watch This Space" - Amazon Prime Video

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