Black Panther Wakanda Forever London Film Premiere 2022

1. Tenoch Huerta, who plays the ruler of an underwater kingdom, didn't know how to swim. When Ryan Coogler offered him the role and asked about his swimming skills, Huerta simply replied, "I've never drowned before." He took swimming lessons afterwards in preparation for the role.
2. For this movie the Marvel Studios intro features exclusively Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa to pay tribute to him after his passing. This is the first MCU intro with no music.
3. Chadwick Boseman's brother, Derrick Boseman has spoken out against the idea of retiring the character of T'Challa rather than recasting. He believes that his brother wouldn't have been so egotistical as to want the character to die with him and would instead want the character's journey to continue.
4. Winston Duke improvised the "you baldheaded demon!" line.
5. Chadwick Boseman initially signed up for a 5 picture deal with Marvel Studios back in 2014. This film would have been his final contractual appearance in live action as Black Panther in the MCU.
6. The actors cast as Talokan learned a Mayan language for the film.
7. According to Hannah Beachler, the teeth on the Talokan throne room belong to a megalodon.
8. Ryan Coogler nearly stepped back from this movie and filmmaking as a whole after Chadwick Boseman's death, due to how emotionally painful it was losing his friend/hero. However, after taking his final conversations with the man into consideration, Coogler decided that it was best to keep moving forward with the project.
9. Tenoch Huerta (Namor) received the first ever "introducing" credit for a Marvel Studios film, a credit that usually indicates an actor is making their film debut.
10. Daniel Kaluuya was set to return as W'Kabi but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with Nope (2022).
11. Namor calls himself a mutant. In the comics he has the title of "Marvel's First Mutant".
12. Lupita Nyong'o, who is Kenyan-Mexican, was enthusiastic to show off her Spanish speaking skills in the film.
13. Ryan Coogler has stated that making this film without Chadwick Boseman is the hardest thing he's ever done.
14. According to Hannah Beachler, the Wakanda flower shop hosts every national flower from every country on the continent of Africa.
15. In the Marvel Comics, Namor is ruler of the underwater realm of Atlantis. The filmmakers changed the name to avoid connections/comparisons with other versions of Atlantis (notably DC Comics' version and its own superhero king Aquaman (2018)), and so in the film the realm is named Talokan, after the Aztec underwater realm of Tlalocan.
16. Namor the Sub-Mariner was Marvel's very first superhero alongside the Angel and the original Human Torch. Writer/artist Bill Everett (later co-created Daredevil) was a fan of anything nautical and sea-related, and he created Namor as the water-based opposite to the Torch. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1798 poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" was an influence on the character, and the name "Namor" was conceived by writing "Roman" backwards. He first appeared in the unpublished Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly #1 (Apr. 1939) before making his official debut in Marvel Comics #1 (Oct. 1939), the first publication by Marvel's predecessor Timely Comics.
17. In the film, Namor is named after a Spanish phrase "El Niño Sin Amor" (The Boy Without Love). In the comics, Namor is Atlantean for "avenging son." The actual name comes from "Roman" written backwards.
18. With the runtime of 161 minutes (2hrs 41 mins) this will be the second longest film in the MCU behind Avengers: Endgame (2019) runtime of 181 minutes (3hrs 1min) and the longest solo MCU film, dethroning Eternals (2021).
19. Before being cast as Ironheart, Dominique Thorne initially auditioned to play Shuri back in Black Panther (2018).
20. Wakandan is translated in yellow subtitles, Talokanin in blue, and French and Spanish are in white. This comes in handy when Nakia approaches a woman in Mexico and speaks Spanish to her, then switching to Talokanin the text turns blue to prove she knows about the Talokans.
21. The Talokans are heavily inspired by Mesoamerican culture, primarily Aztec culture and the Aztec water god Tlaloc.
22. In Avengers: Endgame, one of the things that the remaining team detects is sonic disturbances underwater. At the time, Okoye told Natasha Romanoff that it's "just an underwater earthquake."
23. Due to the extensive amount of underwater filming, costume designer Ruth E. Carter had to test/design certain Talokan costumes by submerging them in a pool and seeing how they moved in the water.
24. The concept of a Mesoamerican underwater kingdom is based on the concept of Aztlan, a mythical home that originated the Aztec people and was said to be another name for Atlantis.
25. Rihanna immediately wanted to get involved with Wakanda Forever from the moment she saw the first trailer, and recorded the song "Lift Me Up" as a personal tribute to Chadwick Boseman.
26. It was announced that the role of T'Challa would not be digitally recreated and not recast, out of respect for Chadwick Boseman's legacy.
27. The 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
28. Dorothy Steel's final film role before her death in 2021.
29. Director Ryan Coogler revealed that the sequel's original story was going to focus on T'Challa after the events from Avengers: Endgame (2019) with Chadwick Boseman reprising his role and stated that Namor was always the film's antagonist.
30. Nakia's Haiti house number is shown to be 1804. It signifies the year Haiti received it's independence from French colonial rule (specifically, January 1 1804).
31. Tenoch Huerta called Namor an anti-hero, explaining that it was important to both him and Ryan Coogler to humanize the character by making his motivations understandable despite him having an antagonistic role in the film.
32. The cast took lessons in swimming and breath training for the film.
33. On July 23rd, 2022, Kevin Feige announced at San Diego Comic-Con that the film will mark the culmination of Phase 4 of the MCU.
34. According to Hannah Beachler, the hut where the first Black Panther Bashenga was born is based on the hut where African leader Nelson Mandela was born in Mvezo, South Africa in 1918.
35. The film was supposed to release in July 2022. However after a major rescheduling in 2021, Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) took that slot, while the Black Panther sequel took the November 2022 release slot of The Marvels (2023) when the Captain Marvel (2019) sequel was delayed to February 2023.
36. One of the items of news running along the bottom of news scenes refers to Scott Lang and his book, "Look Out for the Little Guy", a plot point in the following Marvel movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).
37. Winston Duke had campaigned for his character, M'Baku, to be the sequel's main villain.
38. Michael Phelps, Daniel Dae Kim, Brian Tee, Dwayne Johnson, Henry Golding and David Boreanaz were all considered for Namor over the years. Before being cast as Shang-Chi, Simu Liu commented back in a 2018 Q&A that he was interested in playing either Sunfire or Namor the Sub-Mariner in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
39. Actors Alex Livinalli, Tenoch Huerta, and Mabel Cadena describe how they wanted Namor and his people (and their fans) to have an equivalent to the Black Panther's "Wakanda forever!" salute. Therefore, taking inspiration from the Yucatecan Maya spoken in the film, and a common greeting gesture depicted throughout various Mesoamerican codices, they came up with "Liik'ik Talocan!" (Rise, Talokan!) with the aforementioned greeting. Which, Huerta admits, is actually associated with the Sun.
40. After Chadwick Boseman's untimely death, some fans have advocated for the next Black Panther film to follow the comics and to have Shuri, T'Challa's sister, take on the role as the new Black Panther
41. The Talokan throne room is production designer Hannah Beachler's favourite set she designed for the film.
42. According to Hannah Beachler, Okoye (Danai Gurira)'s home is based on the Great Zimbabwe ruins (which were reputedly a great citadel in prehistoric times), and also serves as a homage to Gurira's Zimbabwean background.
43. The colour white as seen throughout the teaser and in the funeral scene implies that in Wakanda Wakandans wear white instead of black to commemorate their loved ones passing away, which is the tradition in their country.
44. Live-action debut of Namor the Sub-Mariner. There had been numerous attempts to adapt the character to film and television, all of which ultimately stalled. Marvel Comics founder Martin Goodman began developing a live-action Namor TV series in the 1950s with Richard Egan eyed to star, but nothing came of it. Another Namor series was planned in the 1970s, but it was dropped due to similarities with Man from Atlantis (1977), which, ironically, was inspired by Namor. A Namor film was first announced in 1997 and spent the next two decades in development hell, with numerous writers and directors attached over the years. Universal has owned Namor's film rights since 2002, which means, like the Hulk, he can only appear as a supporting character in Marvel Studios projects, not in a standalone film.
45. Rihanna was being eyed by the studio for the role of Princess Zanda, the ruler of the African nation of Narobia. She instead did the song "Lift Me Up" for the film.
46. According to Hannah Beachler, one sign in Wakanda reads "Wakanda Architects" and holds the names of Beachler herself, art director Marlie Arnold, graphics designer Kelsey Brennan and Wakanda creator Jack Kirby.
47. Mabel Cadena was enthusiastic to portray Namora in this movie, as she saw it as a great opportunity to represent Mexican women in a blockbuster, and to challenge the stereotypes associated with them.
48. Hannah Beachler cites the artwork of artist Jack Kirby, the fantasy film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and the sea film Jaws (1975) as an influence on the production design.
49. Michael Waldron said there were plans to include Namor in the Illuminati in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), since he was a founding member of the group in the comics, but these plans were dropped.
50. Nakia and M'Baku were considered to take up the mantle of Black Panther during this film rather than Shuri as in the final product. The film's ending does have M'Baku challenge for leadership on Shuri's behalf however.
51. Riri Williams superhero name is not mentioned in the film. When some metal work is being done for the armor, a heart shaped cut out is briefly visible. Referencing her superhero name - Iron Heart.
52. The first MCU film to get a golden globe nomination for acting that being in the best supporting actress category for Angela Bassett
53. Talokan is lit by an underwater sun. In Aztec myth, the gods were responsible for maintaining the movement of the sun, giving additional significance to Namor's claim to divinity as K'uk'ulkan (who, incidentally, was also a deity of the dawn and sun). Namor also uses a conch shell as a symbol, which may allude to how the conch was one of the symbols of Quetzalcoatl/K'uk'ulkan, being used in real life as an insignia on the breastplates of priests.
54. According to Hannah Beachler, the consoles that operate the Wakanda River Barrier are based on disc jockey turntables and liquindi water drumming, a music tradition carried out in Central Africa.
55. Lake Bell, who had previously voiced Natasha Romanoff in What If...? appears as Dr. Graham, one of the American scavengers who gets killed by Namor when trying to find Vibranium in the ocean early in the film.
56. Namor says his catchphrase "Imperius Rex" (in Mayan) once Shuri does a last stand on him.
57. During the CNN report of Ramonda's speech at the UN, the bottom scrolling text talks about Scott Lang's book tour for his autobiography.
58. First movie directed by Ryan Coogler to be filmed in Panavision (anamorphic).
59. Wakanda owes its technological superiority, to a meteorite made of Vibranium ; the underwater city of Namor is also built from Vibranium, and characters in the movie suggest there must have been another Vibranium-loaded impact. The underwater city is located off the Yucatan peninsula, which is the impact site of the asteroid which killed off the dinosaurs.
60. Development for a sequel was in motion after the success of the first movie and started in Summer 2019 and filming was going to start in early to mid-2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in production getting delayed (although the film's initial release date was kept).
61. According to Hannah Beachler, the Wakanda flower shop's beehive style is inspired by the mud huts of the Musgum people of Cameroon.
62. The first MCU sequel not to have the same titular superhero character as its predecessor, due to the death of Chadwick Boseman in 2020. (Although, Hulk was played by Edward Norton in the first MCU solo outing, while Mark Ruffalo took over the role of Hulk in The Avengers and all subsequent MCU films featuring him, but none of these releases include Hulk in the title).
63. According to Hannah Beachler, the hieroglyphics on the Talokan throne reads "This jade tooth bites."
64. WWE Superstar Luis Martinez, also known as Damian Priest, was approached for "a significant role" in the sequel by the studio for either Namor or his right-hand man, Attuma.
65. This is the second MCU sequel that did not surpass its predecessor at the box office domestically or worldwide, after Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015).
66. The license plate of the prisoner transport carrying Everett Ross reads "CB112976", for Chadwick Boseman and his birthdate of November 29th 1976 (11/29/76).
67. When Shuri ingests the reconstructed heart-shaped herb and meets Killmonger in the Ancestral Plane, the throne room (where Queen Ramonda drowned) overlooks the veldt of the Ancestral Plane. This is reminiscent of Killmonger's father, N'Jobu, in Black Panther (2018) when the two meet in a version of their apartment overlooking the veldt. This implies that Killmonger's soul, like his father, is imprisoned within walls and forbidden to roam in the veldt with the ancestors.
68. King T'Challa and Nakia's son, who appears in the mid-credits scenes, has the Haitian name of "Toussaint". This name comes from General Toussaint Louverture, who fought the French in 1804 with then-colonial slaves to secure Haiti's independence, paralleling the Black Panther's duty to defend Wakanda.
69. This is now the first film in the MCU to use the term "Mutant". Namor refers to himself as such, and some of his appearances in comics refer to him as "The World's First Mutant" (though this point is highly disputed among comic book readers).
70. Toussaint aka T'Challa II was planned to be in this movie ever since the first few drafts, and was going to have a much bigger role in this film's events. Unfortunately, his involvement was greatly reduced after Chadwick Boseman's death.
71. Namor is the first Mutant to appear on film on MCU Earth-616 (Ms. Marvel was the first mutant in a TV adaptation). Both Ms. Marvel and this movie have two different characters named Nakia.
72. Okoye and Shuri snark that if Riri (who's threatening to throw a space heater at them) doesn't come with them, she'll have to deal with Namor herself "with [her] heater". In the climax Riri equips a Wakandan fighter plane with heating to help entrap and dehydrate Namor.

Where was Black Panther Wakanda Forever filmed?

Black Panther Wakanda Forever was set around this are the locations:

• Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• Brunswick, Georgia, USA
• Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

Genre

Cast

Letitia Wright

as Shuri

Lupita Nyong'o

as Nakia

Danai Gurira

as Okoye

Winston Duke

as M'Baku

Angela Bassett

as Ramonda

Tenoch Huerta

as Namor

Martin Freeman

as Everett Ross

Dominique Thorne

as Riri

Florence Kasumba

as Ayo

Michaela Coel

as Aneka

Alex Livinalli

as Attuma

Mabel Cadena

as Namora

Isaach De Bankolé

as River Tribe Elder

Danny Sapani

as Border Tribe Elder

Zainab Jah

as Mining Tribe Elder

Sope Aluko

as Sope the Shaman

Connie Chiume

as Zawavari

• Black Panther Wakanda Forever official website`
• Black Panther Wakanda Forever imdb