Spoiler alert! This post discusses the end of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” so beware if you haven’t seen it.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” brought one superhero woman into the Marvel Cinematic Universe spotlight, and a new deleted scene hints that another’s time is coming.
Directed by Ryan Coogler, the female-centered sequel (available Wednesday on Disney+ and on-demand platforms) saw Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) take the mantle of Black Panther after the deaths of her brother (the late Chadwick Boseman) and her mother, Queen Ramonda (Oscar nominee Angela Bassett).
At the same time, Wakandan warrior Okoye (Danai Gurira) faces her own struggles: When Shuri is kidnapped on Okoye’s watch by the underwater forces of new antagonist Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía), Ramonda angrily strips Okoye of her leadership of the Dora Milaje.
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Premiering exclusively at usatoday.com, the deleted scene is from the ending of the movie, after the new Black Panther and the Wakandans – including Okoye in a spiffy, high-tech Midnight Angel supersuit she hates – defeat Namor’s Talokan kingdom. Shuri is being dropped off at the Haitian home of Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) when Okoye steps out from across the road for one last goodbye and tells Shuri she’ll be there for her “anytime, anywhere.”
So what is next for both? Marvel probably has big plans for its new Black Panther, with a couple of high-profile “Avengers” movies on the horizon where Shuri could appear. But there is also at least one Wakandan spinoff TV series in development that Coogler is producing, and Okoye might be at the center of that. “I have been told that I can gently allude to this possibility,” Gurira teased earlier this month on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
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The actress told USA TODAY last November that with “Wakanda Forever,” Coogler wanted them to “grapple with our characters dealing with great change.”
“We see the full expansiveness of their humanness and that they’re expanded and shifted and challenged,” Gurira added. “The knowledge of what my character’s role is in this world and how she responds to grief and loss and what she tries to do to hold everything down, it was a very challenging journey for her.”
And it’s one that doesn’t appear to be over yet.
Contributing: Anika Reed
Ranked:Every Marvel superhero movie (including ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’)
Story Credit: usatoday.com