The final scenes of Black Panther may have set things up for Black Panther 2 pretty seamlessly. But, would a sequel after Infinity War trade Wakanda for Oakland, California?
Spoilers for Black Panther ahead.
The tight writing of Black Panther’s script brings the small tragic events at the beginning of the film full circle in the final scenes. Throughout the story, we learned that the negligence of T’Challa’s father in Oakland, California in the Nineties inadvertently created the villain Killmonger. And so, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) relocates his Wakanda allies, Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) to a poor community in Oakland at the end where they will start helping out people in need. Does this mean Black Panther 2 will take place in Oakland?
In the comics, T’Challa did relocate to America, but not to California. Instead, Black Panther set-up shop in Brooklyn, though decidedly more incognito than other New York superheroes.
We all know New York City is practically overflowing with heroes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so it’s nice that T’Challa choose a different American city for his new base of operations. But, it’s also a cool set-up for the next Black Panther film. Sure, T’Challa is going to have to head back to Wakanda for Avengers: Infinity War, but what about after that? For those of us invested in the world of Black Panther specifically, the rest of the Marvel movie universe suddenly feels like a burden. Because if T’Challa, Shuri, and Nakia are going to start having adventures in California, the sequel could start to really make things interesting on the social commentary front.
After all, the sci-fi cities of Wakanda don’t actually exist in real life. But the streets of Oakland, California totally do, and they are more than ready for a superhero to make his home there.
Black Panther is out now in wide release.
