King T’Challa has been severely ill and the destruction of the heart-shaped herb caused by Killmonger makes it impossible for him to find a cure. A year after the sovereign’s death, the various countries of the world are becoming more and more aggressive in an attempt to get hold of the precious and powerful vibranium, which Wakanda refuses to sell. A possible new metal deposit is discovered at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, but the international expedition is exterminated by mysterious blue-skinned men, led by a king capable of flying: Namor. He believes that the interest of the surface countries for his reign is the fault of the politics of Wakanda, so he pretends that the Wakandans are neutralizing the scientist who has discovered how to find the very rare metal …

Elaboration of the mourning of an actor who had already become an icon, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has a very different tone from other Marvel films, but also for this reason the perceived duration becomes that declared by the title: forever!
The fast-paced recipe for action and comedy that has characterized Marvel films more or less from the start has now hit a wall. Not due to the ambitions of a pseudo-authorial project, as was Eternals, but to the tragic death of the young Chadwick Boseman. If the actor’s life hadn’t been shattered by a tumor, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever would likely have been a very different film, both in tone and theme. The work of deepening the Wakandian setting and its monarchical system – addressed in recent years in the comics of Ta-Nehisi Coates and John Ridley – had to leave the field to the handover of the role of Black Panther. With neither the protagonist nor the antagonist, the Wakanda saga was faced with a forced restart, which unfortunately was only half successful.
The most charismatic characters are undoubtedly Queen Ramonda and King Namor (or rather Namòr, as it should be read), but the former must leave the stage to the new Black Panther while the latter is forced into a very logical villain role. questionable. Basically Namor claims that Wakanda solves the problem it caused him, without revealing the existence of his reign, but then declares that he is ready for the war against the surface – which would inevitably bring him into the open …
Too much weight is on the shoulders of scientist Riri Willians, who is actually a young student in an American college. Like Doctor Strange’s America Chavez in the multiverse of madness she is haunted by a very powerful opponent, determined to eliminate her. The Wakandians, in line with the new policy desired by the late T’Challa, decide to protect her, so Riri ends up becoming a casus belli between two kingdoms that actually have more things in common than they have reasons to fight. From a political point of view, on the other hand, the frankness with which the United States is seen more or less as an enemy nation, aggressive and potentially dangerous – an element much more present in this second film than in the previous chapter is refreshing.