I spent last Friday morning turning around in circles atop a hill in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. I had an iPhone 14 in hand, and I was trying to catch a clear view of the sky so I could connect with a satellite. I wasn’t exactly alone or lost in the wilderness, but I pretended like I was in order to get a feel for Apple’s new Emergency SOS via satellite.
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Stands as a Touching Tribute, With a Sexy New Antihero
The Marvel Cinematic Universe can feel sometimes like a soulless machine churning out theatrical movies and Disney Plus shows year after year to keep legions of fans invested. Disappointing films like Thor: Love & Thunder and inconsistent series like She-Hulk certainly don’t do much to assuage that fear.
thankfully, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which hit theaters on Friday, reminds us of the MCU’s real strength: its characters’ humanity and relatability. The 30th MCU movie and the sequel to 2018 megahit Black Panther manages to stand as a touching tribute to that film’s late star Chadwick Boseman, who edited at age 43 in 2020. But Wakanda Forever neatly balances that with the excitement and fun we expect from a superhero adventure.
Marvel wisely decided against recasting Boseman’s role as Wakandan King T’Challa/Black Panther. Instead, returning director Ryan Coogler (who co-wrote the movie with Joe Robert Cole) weaves the character’s death into the narrative as the technologically advanced African nation mourns its lost leader and his heroic alter ego.

Queen Ramonda has to take a firm stance against sneaky rival nations in the wake of her son’s death.
Marvel Studios
A sense of grief is threaded through the movie, as the late king’s mother, Ramonda (Angela Bassett), and sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) struggle with their loss. These two are Wakanda Forever’s beating heart, with Bassett capturing the pain and resign of someone whose sense of responsibility outweighs their pain. The science-minded Shuri, by contrast, tries to