Black Panther’s first teaser, titled Wakanda Forever, makes it obvious that the ladies of the African nation are responsible for deciding the country’s future. The teaser shows that Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) is now ruling Wakanda in the wake of King T’Challa’s (Chadwick Boseman) death and that she, Shuri, and the rest of the country are all in sorrow. Lupita Nyong’o, who plays Nakia in the franchise, recently spoke on the significance of women in Wakanda and how she hopes the world is “empowered” by it in an interview with The New York Times. Shuri (Letitia Wright) is just one example of a powerful and capable Wakandan woman who has proved herself to be wiser than both Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) when it came to removing the mind stone from Vision’s brain.
The Dora Milaje, led by Okoye (Danai Gurira), are the most powerful special forces in the MCU, and they play a key role in both the Infinity War and Endgame confrontations. As Nyong’o put it, “the undervaluing of women because of their gender doesn’t exist in Wakanda, which is why it resonated in the first film.” While the Dora Milaje last appeared in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, to retrieve Zemo (Daniel Brühl), and ended up teaching John Walker (Wyatt Russell) a much-deserved lesson, Nyong’o confirms that the women of Wakanda will continue to build on the fact that gendered discrepancies do not exist in the fictional world of Black Panther.
The trailer for Wakanda Forever showed us that Queen Ramonda is now sitting on the throne that her husband and then her son occupied. Shuri, Nakia, and Okoye are shown leading the charge against whatever threat awaits after the death of their beloved king, but Nyong’o reveals that “the question we’re tackling is not their womanhood.”
Wakanda forever in Black Panther, premiering on November 11.
Synopsis
In the wake of King T’Challa’s death, Queen Ramonda, Shuri, M’Baku, Okoye, and the Dora Milaje battle to protect their nation from intervening world powers. As the people of Wakanda look forward to the next chapter in their history, the heroes must join forces with Nakia and Everett Ross to pave the way.