TW: Spoilers for Black Panther, death and dealing with death

Like most people, I was distraught to hear about the passing of the amazing Chadwick Bosemen on August 28, 2020. 

From his knockout performance playing the legendary Jackie Robinson, to his turbocharged portrayal of the Godfather of Soul, to his nuanced role as the first Black Justice on the Supreme Court, Boseman’s was deserving the crown of a master of the craft or performance. Capable of portraying the historic and iconic in equal measure, while even stealing the show as Thoth from the otherwise execrable Gods of Egypt, Boseman drew your eye when he was on screen. He owned it. Skill like that is hard to come by; maybe a handful of individuals in a generation.

I was elated when he was cast as Black Panther; the first Black superhero in a major comics publication and the first Black superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to carry their own film. The day of its release, my wife and I watched Black Panther during the first showing of the day. 

To my left was a woman in a dashiki named Eva whom I spoke with about comics. She had read comics, when she was young, stopping in 1965 because there were no heroes who looked like her. I let her know that Black Panther first appeared the next year in Fantastic Four and she playfully slapped my arm as she laughed about how she used to collect it and should have stuck with it. I spent the time before the film talking about Black Panther’s first appearance to his joining the Avengers in 1968 to the eventual run in Jungle Comics where the character really came into his own. When the film ended, she had tears and we hugged. It was a moment I’ll never forget.

To the right of my wife was a family of four; a man and a woman and two, young boys. My wife had a conversation with them not dissimilar to the one Eva and I had; the parents both excited that their boys could grow up in a world where a major motion picture depicted a superhero who looked like they did. The younger of the two boys was dressed like the title character and looked just awesome. As the film went on, I snuck a look at the boys and they were enrapt by the action and drama, but their parents were also watching the kids; pride and tears brimming.

Seeing that film in that crowd is an experience I will treasure for the rest of my life. Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and James Brown may be amazing characters, but T’Challa was a superhero. Superheroes aren’t from life, they’re larger than it. Great innovators show what humanity can do, superheroes show what we could strive for.

Like many fans of superhero fiction, I have had the thought regarding how to continue the Black Panther without Boseman in the lead role.

I’m not proud of this thought, but thinking of Eva and those young boys, I want them to have more experiences like the one we shared. I don’t want something so amazing to end because the real world has to destroy it.

Likewise, I would never want the franchise to move forward without a single mention of the loss of Boseman; as though he was Terrance Howard. It was and remains a harsh way to have treated Mr. Howard and would be a horrible way to treat someone posthumously.

So, how could we move forward?

I’ve spend the last few days seeing options people presented and I thought I would express my opinions on the four best of them, in the order I think they work. Note that all four of these have the film opening with a moving tribute to T’Challa, lost in some tragedy off-screen that may or may not tie into the plot of the film. This serves as a tribute to Boseman, as well.

3. Return of Killmonger

The more I thought about this, the less I liked it. So, no. I like Micheal B. Jordan a lot, but this would fly in the face of the idea of Black Panther.

2. M’Baku Stands Tall

Winston Duke’s amazing performance gets to continue as the all-new Black Panther. Not too shabby.

1. Shuri Dons the Mantle

As in the comic, Letitia Wright’s Shuri takes over her brother’s mantle. Easily my favorite of the ideas I’ve seen.

My Pitch: Kings

While spotlighting African culture and a Black lead were some of the most groundbreaking and awe-inspiring elements of the first Black Panther, ask anyone who’s seen the film what they liked about it and they are bound to mention at least one of the strong, capable, female characters which surrounded T’Challa.

We’ve already mentioned Shuri, but Okoye (Danai Gurira), head of the Dora Milaje, and Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), a spy and love interest of T’Challa’s, serve to provide stunning performances in Black Panther by strong, capable women in roles that are not the typical of those usually foisted upon female actors (not to mention Angela Bassett’s portrayal of T’Challa’s mother, Ramonda). With these three amazing characters, I think it might be interesting to provide a solution to the absence of the Black Panther that leverages all three of them.

I’ve already touched on the idea that Wakanda goes to war with Atlantis. This could be some other fictional, hyper-advanced society, as well, but we’ll stick to the idea of Atlantis as a short-hand for the war concept.

After the opening of the film, which presents the funeral of T’Challa due to unrevealed (and off-screen) circumstances (that may never need to be addressed during the film), the idea that Wakanda is now at war with another nation is introduced. The leader of this nation, Namor, has led Atlantis to attack Wakanda, seemingly without any provocation, with the support of his general, Attuma. 

As the plot unfolds, a new Black Panther appears; one who is clearly female. When she first appears, this Black Panther is using advanced technology to repel an Atlantean assault; effortlessly juggling a wide array of technical systems to support the Wakandan soldiers. This leads witnesses W’Kabi and N’Jobu to remark that it must be Shuri beneath the mask.

When next we see this Black Panther, she is returning from a successful infiltration mission into whomever the hidden enemy behind these events might be. She reports to Princess Shuri, the acting regent of Wakanda, much to the surprise of W’Kabi and Romonda notes to Everett Ross that only Nakia could be under the cowl to be such a master of stealth and espionage.

Shortly after this, Princess Shuri is attacked by would-be assassins and the new Black Panther arrives to save her with masterful warrior skills. At this point, Ayo notes that the new Black Panther must be Okoye as she fights like a Dora Milaje. After this action piece, it’s revealed that the Atlantean assassins are actually genetically-modified humans.

As the story unfolds, it is revealed that there were internal elements that caused the war: Changamire, a teacher of T’Challa’s who had been introduced to the film as a love interest of Ramonda, is leading this movement alongside his students the nature manipulator Tetu and the powerful empath, Zenzi. Their goal was to cause Wakanda to be isolated from the rest of the world, once more, and they’ve allied with Klaw, the AI that was created when Ulysses Klaue downloaded his brain into the sonic weapon he had stolen. Furthermore, efforts to convince Namor that he was being manipulated have come to naught.

This overwhelming push of enemies is at the ready to crush the Wakandan throne and the new Black Panther, with it. As the battle of Birnin Zana commences, Namor manages to stun the Black Panther, leaving her helpless as Tetu closes in to kill her with trees, or something. Suddenly, she is saved by…

The Black Panther?!

Using new force field technology and providing advanced weapons for the first Black Panther, this second Black Panther starts to help even the odds, but a last push by the Atlantean forces (Namor now coming to see the error of his ways but being too proud to admit it, yet), forces the Wakandans to push back.

This is when the third Black Panther appears!

This one indicates to the other two that she was successful in getting something out to everyone and spreading the word. The three Black Panthers then reveal their identities to the Wakandan forces, it’s Nakia, Okoye, and Shuri!

Shuri stands in front of her people and gives a speech. This speech is about Namor believing that he cannot be wrong because he is a king and how Changamire has sworn he will never follow a king and how Klaw, in his discorporate state wants to forge himself into a king, but T’Challa was the one who truly taught her about kings.

‘We are Wakanda!’ she says, crossing her arms over her chest.

‘We are all Kings!’

With that, the Wakandan forces begin to change. Across the various units, a wide variation of vibranium Black Panther suits are created from worn kimoyo beads to cover each and every Wakandan assembled. Tetu and Zenzi look on in horror as Klaw’s form is absorbed by the mass of vibranium being utilized. Changamire falls to his knees, realizing how wrong he was.

Namor is stunned by this event, but Attuma still intends to win. He orders the Atlanteans to charge and they are thoroughly out-matched by the empowered Wakandans. Attuma hammers on Namor, revealing that he’s been working with the humans all along and planned on commanding Atlantis when Namor was killed in battle. The three Black Panthers show up to this battle and join with Namor against Attuma, managing to trounce the warlord.

Tetu and Zenzi make their escape, Klaw has been destroyed, Attuma is taken into Atlantean custody and Namor begs Shuri for forgiveness. She does so, then establishes a High Council to lead Wakanda, separate from the duties of the Black Panther.

In an after-credits, we see Black people in some unnamed, authoritarian foreign nation as they reveal that they have received a gift of the special Kimoyo beads that create the Black Panther suit.

Whew!

That’s all I’ve got. While I am the least-equipped person to write a story like what we’ll see in the next Black Panther film, I think mine is pretty cool.

Frankly, I hope whatever they do with the franchise it serves the lessons that Chadwick Boseman left for us all. And in this, it’s very possible that there’s a more realistic option just sitting there:

Boseman knew he was sick since 2016. Given the importance of the role of Black Panther to people around the world, one has to imagine that Boseman has found a way to make his wishes known and, from what I’ve read of the man, I feel like it would be very simple.

Re-cast.

Give another young, Black actor from around the world the opportunity to carry the Wakandan flag into the future. Build on the mythology and don’t let one element of it being gone redefine it.

I know we’ll see more Black Panther. I know it’s in good hands.

Just as Chadwick did.