Black Panther 2: How does T’Challa die in the MCU?
Disney/MarvelBlack Panther 2 has the unenviable task of dealing with the real-life death of star Chadwick Boseman. Here we explain how the tragedy plays out in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, so this is your warning that THERE WILL BE SPOILERS AHEAD.
Just two years after playing T’Challa in the phenomenally successful Black Panther, actor Chadwick Boseman died from colon cancer, at the age of just 43.
There were rumors that his passing might end the franchise there and then, or that another actor might be drafted in to replace Boseman as T’Challa. But MCU mastermind Kevin Feige – and Black Panther writer-director Ryan Coogler – decided to go in a different direction as they overhauled the story.
The result is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, wherein T’Challa dies, and is eventually replaced by a new Black Panther. Here’s how that happens.
How does T’Challa die in the MCU?
T’Challa dies from an undisclosed illness in the MCU. A character states this during Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, without anyone ever elaborating on the nature of that illness.
The film begins with T’Challa’s sister Shuri desperately trying to save her him. “Please allow me to heal my brother”, she says, as Shuri uses futuristic Wakandan technology to treat him.
But in spite of her efforts, T’Challa’s heart rate drops, until he slips away, and Shuri is finally told “Your brother is with the ancestors now.”
How does the Black Panther’s death affect those in Wakanda Forever?
T’Challa’s casket is then paraded through the streets of Wakanda so the people can mourn his death and celebrate his life. While his family also have a private ceremony so they can say goodbye.
T’Challa’s mother – Queen Ramonda – takes a spiritual approach to the loss, believing she can feel her son in the breeze, gently pushing her forward. Though Shuri doesn’t buy into this, believing that concept to be an artificial construct designed to make Ramonda feel better. While Nakia – with whom T’Challa fell in love during the first film – runs away, and ends up teaching in a school in Haiti.
Shuri struggles most with her brother’s death, unable to process what has happened, or understand how that void can be filled. As Coolger explains in a recent interview with Variety: “Where we started was this idea of who would be the most affected by his loss. Shuri had never known a day without him. He’d always been there, so she would be the most unmoored by him passing away.”
In the film, Shuri is angry that T’Challa suffered in silence, suggesting the Black Panther didn’t tell others about his illness until the end. She also feels guilt, that she couldn’t help him in his final moments; guilt that drives Shuri on her eventful Wakanda Forever journey.
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