Tear Jerker / Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Moments subpages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned!

Good night, sweet prince.^note Technically, he's a king, but still.

There's no good way to say it: T'Challa is dead, both in real life and in the movie. And these succeeding moments are clear that Wakanda is struggling without him. Bring on the waterworks.

Previews

• The death of T'Challa and the effects it has on his friends and family are clear throughout the whole teaser, with Shuri crying as she gazes at a sunset and Ramonda outright screaming about the matter.
  Ramonda: I am Queen of the most powerful nation in the world, and my entire family is gone! Have I not given everything?!
  • What makes it worse is that Wakanda has lost its king three whole times: he was seemingly executed by Killmonger, came back and regained his mantle, was then dusted and came back five years later just to die again much like May Parker, Jane Foster, and Wanda.
    • On the topic of T'Challa's death, the song choice for the teaser trailer, a beautifully somber rendition of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" by Tems, hits like a sledgehammer if you pay attention to the lyrics. Especially towards the end:
      Though I've got to push on through
      So while I'm gone
      Everything's gonna be alright
      Everything's gonna be alright
      Everything's gonna be alright, now
• If the teaser is anything to go off of, it's heavily implied that the Talokans flood Wakanda. It's brief, but nevertheless harrowing given the fact the location was previously seen as a stronghold that could withstand a cosmic threat.
  • Before that, the throne room is shown drenched in flame while a horrified Shuri looks on.
    • Another (possibly worse) possibility that some have speculated is that Shuri is reliving the burning of the Heart Shaped Herb gardens, a tragedy which retroactively cut Wakanda off from continuing T'Challa's legacy, and has left them without a guardian.
• The teaser shows a scene of soldiers dressed in military garbs attacking what seems to be a Wakandan laboratory. After all the lessons T'Challa learned from the first film in branching out to the rest of the world in hopes of creating an interconnected society, it seems that No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.
• "Only the most broken people... can be great leaders." A very poignant line if there ever was one; just ask Tony or Steve, let alone Ramonda herself.

Film

• The entirety of the cold open. it is revealed that T'Challa is dying of an unknown illness and Shuri is trying to recreate the Heart-Shaped Herb to save him somehow, but all of the effort is in vain. Even though it's a foregone conclusion that he will be gone, you can still feel everybody's desperation as they race to keep him alive. In fact, the very first lines of the movie are of Shuri praying to Bast to help her heal T'Challa.
  Shuri: Bast... Time is running out. Please allow me to heal my brother of this illness, and I'll never question your existence again.
  • Unfortunately, her prayers go unanswered. The writing seems to be on the wall in the lab as an aide tells Shuri she should go be with T'Challa, but she refuses, determined to save him even with a terrible probability of success and his heartbeat weakening and slowing. When told her chances have jumped from 25% to 29.1%, she settles and prints her artificial herb. She prepares to race to her brother's side... only to be met by her distraught mother, who says nothing. Shuri asks the status of her brother's heartbeat, and gets no reply. Ramonda then announces, "Your brother... is with the ancestors." Shuri promptly breaks down.
  • The Council of Elders, including M'Baku, Okoye, and the Dora Milaje, are all in tears at the private ceremony held before the funeral procession. Okoye in particular still keeps crying during the procession from the loss of her quasi-brother, who, as the film will later reveal, she still feels deeply remorseful about turning her back on when it appeared he died in ritual combat. Now she'll have to live with that guilt for the rest of her life, compounded by the fact she's serving as one of his pallbearers now that he truly is dead this time.
  • When the time comes for T'Challa's casket to be taken away, Ramonda and Shuri touch it one last time...but Shuri doubles back, weeping as she collapses over it in grief as if to keep holding her deceased brother. Ramonda is shocked at first, but lets her daughter have one last moment before gently pulling her back and holding her. And finally, the casket is taken away as the Ancestral Plane theme plays, while we're greeted to a shot of Shuri crying in heartbreak. And this is the last shot we see before the opening Marvel logo. Ouch...
    • Following the funeral is the aforementioned Marvel Studios intro. It's a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, like the one in Captain Marvel for Stan Lee, originally produced for the first film's Disney+ release on Boseman's first birthday after his passing. But instead of having the usual bombastic music, and whereas the tribute to Lee and the original release of this intro were uplifting and could be considered positive send-offs to the two men, it is near-complete silence here following the scene of T'Challa's funeral. No music, no fanfare, NOTHING. This just manages to further set up the depressing tone of the film.
  • When T'Challa's casket is facing his people, they let go of their salute out of respect, but eagle-eyed viewers will notice that Shuri doesn't let go of her salute, further emphasizing her guilt and foreshadowing her taking up the mantle.
• Namor's backstory where his mother died heartbroken, due to missing the life she had on the surface. When he went up there to bury her, he witnessed villagers being raided and enslaved by conquistadors.
• Okoye returns to Wakanda and vows to bring Shuri back... but a distraught Ramonda strips her of her title and membership in the Dora Milaje on the spot. Okoye is immediately brought to tears as she begs for another chance, calling Ramonda "mother". The Border Tribe Elder even argues in Okoye's defense, pointing out that Okoye has shown nothing but loyalty to Wakanda. In response, Ramonda angrily reminds them that Okoye sided with Killmonger while Ramonda and Shuri were forced to flee to the Jabari for help, and outright refuses to give Okoye another chance. It is here that Ramonda gives the line from the teaser trailer that broke so many hearts.
  M'Kathu: She raised her spear against her own husband for Wakanda!
  Ramonda: Where is her treacherous husband now but in a place where she can visit if she wished?! Mine... is with the ancestors! I am Queen of the most powerful nation in the world, and my entire family...is gone! Have I not given everything?!
  • While Ramonda stripping Okoye from her rank and occupation may seem disproportionate and irrational, it should be noted that Shuri joining Okoye on the mission was Okoye's idea, despite Ramonda's reservations. Okoye genuinely wanted to help the princess deal with her grief by getting her out of the lab, and it resulted in her being abducted.
• The way T’Challa died is awfully similar to how Boseman himself passed away, with no one the wiser besides himself and his family. Shuri reveals to Namor that T'Challa suffered from his illness in secret and did not ask for help until it was already too late to save him. She then asks Namor why she would be given the gifts and abilities to save T'Challa if she ultimately ended up failing. An empathetic Namor gently replies that he has no answer for that question.
• Okoye reunites with Nakia and reveals that the latter never returned to Wakanda after Thanos's attack, and losing touch with her hurt her. Nakia apologizes and claims that she left out of grief over T'Challa's death. She's not telling the whole truth, since she also left to give birth to Toussaint, but that doesn't mean she's not telling any truths. T'Challa truly was everything to her, and losing him just as they were starting a family destroyed her, and now their second chance at having that has been ruined.
• Ramonda's death by drowning after helping Riri get back to the surface during Namor's attack on Wakanda. Shuri can only be held back as she tries running to her mother, watching as attempts to revive her fail. Letitia Wright's delivery of Shuri's anguished screams for her mother will surely break you into pieces.
  • Okoye is equally desperate as she calls Ramonda "mother". Despite the falling-out that led to her demotion, Okoye still cared greatly about Ramonda and now there won't be any chance for a reconciliation with her.
  • With Ramonda's death, that basically means that Shuri has lost her entire family. Goodness...
  • Watching Shuri struggle in vain against Aneka and M'Baku would already be enough for anyone, but just listening to her go from calling Ramonda "Mother" to the more child-like "Mama" will rip your heart out of your chest. Pass the tissues.
  • Both Aneka and M’Baku are already grief-stricken, M’Baku remorsefully closing his eyes as he reels upon realizing what has happened. Having already watched how badly Shuri took the loss of T'Challa, now she's getting her heart ripped open again, and this time her loved one is ripped from her by an act of murder as opposed to a disease. He already knows This Is Gonna Suck for her, big time.
  • What makes this scene even more gutting is that the last time Shuri spoke directly with her mother, it was mostly played for laughs and she jokingly hung up the phone on her, completely unaware of the immense heartbreak to follow.
  • Ramonda's funeral is a much more somber affair than T'Challa's. While T'Challa's funeral could be seen as bittersweet in how his death was mourned and his life was celebrated, the people attending Ramonda's funeral just seem too broken to truly celebrate her life. Which makes one wonder how many Wakandans were killed during the invasion?
  • Nakia was confronted by Ramonda for not attending T'Challa's funeral, which she did specifically to honor T'Challa's wishes, but it still caused her to feel isolated since she knew the other Wakandans would resent her for not attending. Okoye also mentioned how it hurt to lose her after Thanos's attack. This time, Nakia attends Ramonda's funeral with the Elders, grief-stricken and knowing she needs to be here for everyone.
• After Namor's assault, Wakanda finally falls victim to the fate the other nations of Africa suffered from: being breached, and ravaged by a foreign empire. Indeed, the sight of Wakanda and its people being completely brought to their knees is a devastating sight.
• After Ramonda's funeral, M'Baku approaches Shuri and tries to offer what little comfort he can. When she briefly recalls his comment about calling her a child, M'Baku shakes his head and says that after everything Shuri has been through, he can no longer see her as a child.
• After taking the synthetic heart-shaped herb, Shuri fully expects to be greeted by her recently deceased mother on the Ancestral Plane. She's instead met by Killmonger of all people, who smugly says that between their shared desire for revenge and skepticism towards Wakanda's mystical customs, the two are Not So Different. Upon regaining consciousness, Shuri rages that her parents and brother "abandoned" her by allowing her hated cousin to appear instead.
  • Nakia keeps asking Shuri who showed up in the Ancestral Plane. With the fact that Shuri pretty much didn't give her an actual answer and that she woke up enraged and distressed, it's pretty clear that Nakia is painfully aware of who showed up, but she doesn't want to believe it.
• M’Baku tells Shuri that Ramonda would not want her to plunge Wakanda into eternal war with Talokan, and that he doesn’t want that for her either. But Shuri angrily rants that it doesn’t matter what Ramonda wants for her, because Ramonda is dead, and as far as she knows she will never see her again if Killmonger's appearance in the Ancestral Plane is any indication. Shuri vows to take Namor’s life, the consequences be damned, and M’Baku doesn’t react in anger. He instead reacts in disappointment and shock that the once-cheery princess is now being consumed by vengeance. You can see M’Baku’s resolve crumbling as he realizes he cannot change Shuri’s mind alone, nor is he qualified to even come close to healing her grieving on his own. When Shuri demands him to answer if they’re clear, M’Baku only gives an annoyed grunt of approval, looking away as if in shame.
  • When the country begins preparing for battle the next morning, M'Baku still arrives with the Jabari to take part, but he has none of his usual bravado and eagerness for battle. Talokan's troops may be even more dangerous than Thanos' universally-feared army, but M'Baku for the first time doesn't want to fight the enemy, or at least on the terms Shuri wants. Even when Shuri leads the Wakandans in a chant of "Yibambe", M'Baku still looks morose.
  • Nakia tries to comfort Shuri but insists that she not let vengeance consume her... but Shuri coldly retorts that it already has.
• The final scene before the credits, where Shuri finally burns her funeral attire and allows herself to grieve T'Challa's death. Previous clips of them together (as seen in the previous film) are intercut in this scene, and there's no noise at all — just silence. After the montage is over, Shuri's emotions finally get the best of her, and she starts crying, after which "Lift Me Up" starts to play, segueing to the credits.
  • As the credits start playing, the background of the credits are interwoven with close-up shots of said funeral attire in the fire. Much like Shuri is doing, this also gives time for the audience to grieve and celebrate the late King's life, both in-universe and in real life.
• The mid-credits reveal that Nakia left Wakanda because she and T'Challa agreed that she should raise their son away from the attention of the royal council. While it's sweet to know T'Challa has a son, it's tinged with sadness at the knowledge that he won't be around to watch the boy grow up, in addition to the fact that T'Challa also ended up missing 5 years of his son's life as a result of being killed by Thanos.

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