Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever are ahead!
If you’re in any way a fan of the Marvel movies, then at this point you should be well trained in sticking around for the credits for one, if not multiple end-credits scenes. In the case of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, there was just the one mid-credits scene, and rather than go the traditional Marvel Cinematic Universe of teasing an upcoming movie or Disney+ series, the sequel went in a different direction that honored to the legacy of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa. Producer Nate Moore spoke with CinemaBlend about his this scene came together, as well as why the Black Panther sequel didn’t include any extra tags.
The one extra scene following the conclusion of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s main story saw Shuri meeting Toussaint, the son of T’Challa and Nakia who was raised in Haiti so he wouldn’t have to deal with the pressure of the Wakandan throne. Touissant also revealed to his aunt that he shares the same Wakandan name as his father, i.e. making him T’Challa II. When CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg asked Nate Moore how this scene came together, the producer responded:
It’s a great question. You know, I think in original iterations before Chad’s passing, Ryan had the idea that he had had a son, that he would become a father for the first time. If the first movie was about a son dealing with his father’s legacy, the second would like like a father having to deal with a son. And we didn’t want to lose that. And we felt like there was a ray of hope in there that was important. And certainly the intent of that is not in three years, this kid’s going to put on a Panther suit.’ The intent was the legacy of the man, not the hero, could be carried on, which we liked.
So even before Chadwick Boseman passed away and the plot for Black Panther 2 needed to be retooled, director/co-writer Ryan Coogler intended for T’Challa to have a son. Nate Moore’s wording also makes it sound like T’Challa would have suddenly discovered Touissant’s existence rather than be part of his life from the beginning, though that makes sense considering that T’Challa was one of the victims of Thanos’ Snap, He was gone for five years, so by the time he was reformed, the boy would be around four or five years old. As for how Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s finalized mid-credits scene turned out, Moore made it clear that this wasn’t meant to set up Touissant/T’Challa II to become Black Panther in the future, but rather to carry on in his late father’s footsteps.
As for why Black Panther: Wakanda Forever only featured the one end-credits scene, Nate Moore explained that from an emotional perspective, he and the other creative minds at Marvel Studios behind the sequel didn’t feel like it was necessary to include extra material to tease what's on the MCU horizon. In his words:
As far as not having an end crawl tag, we felt like the story was complete and we felt emotionally like the audience didn’t want it. You know what I mean? I think people might say, ‘We did want it!’ We certainly didn’t watch the movie and thought, ‘Man, it’d be great to introduce Speedball at the end.’ That didn’t seem to make any sense, you know what I mean? It seemed to be like you wanted people to feel like they had this satisfying experience and not be thinking ahead to something completely new and different. And I love our tags and I love being like, ‘Wait, Eros?’ I love that stuff. This is one of the cases where that didn’t feel appropriate.
It should be noted that while Black Panther: Wakanda Forever didn’t roll a scene after the credits were finished, it was teased that “Black Panther will return.” This has also become commonplace in the MCU, with audiences knowing that they’ll see more from certain characters in the future. So those of you who like Shuri as Black Panther can take comfort knowing she’ll be back in action eventually, be it in Black Panther 3, one or both of the upcoming Avengers movies in Phase 6, or some other project. Speaking of Touissant, it’s hard to say if we’ll see him again in the MCU, because again, it’s not like he’ll take over as Black Panther. It couldn’t hurt to check in on him during Black Panther 3 if that does indeed move forward, but at the very least, we know that he’s being well cared for by his mother and aunt.
Be sure to read CinemaBlend’s review of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and check out what upcoming Marvel movies are on the way. If you’d rather revisit past events in the MCU, you can do so by subscribing to Disney+.
