Who Dies in 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'?

In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever the nation of Wakanda is in mourning, but it will not be the last time that they are faced with immeasurable loss.

The newest Marvel film follows Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) as they try to protect Wakanda as best they can while struggling with their grief.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Who Dies in 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'?

When Chadwick Boseman died in August 2020 following a private battle with cancer, some Marvel fans wondered what that would mean for his character King T'Challa, aka Black Panther.

There was some debate over whether the character would, or indeed should, be recast, and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently spoke about how he felt it'd be "much too soon" to even consider.

Wakanda Forever opens with the moment T'Challa dies, with the camera following Shuri as she attempts to synthetically replicate a Heart-Shaped Herb that could be used to save him from an unnamed illness. As she throws herself into her work and refuses to leave her lab to see him lest she fail to find a cure, her mother Ramonda arrives and she realizes that it is too late, he's gone.

It is not a surprise that Marvel chose this storyline, and it also will finally put to rest any debate over whether the character should be recast. The role was Boseman's and without him there is no T'Challa, no one can ever replace him.

This will not be the first loss that Shuri has to deal with in the film, especially when villain Namor (Tenoch Huerta) comes into the picture.

Namor, like T'Challa before him, is the leader of an advanced civilization that lives in hiding from the world, with the Talokan empire residing deep within the ocean. The world's desire to find Vibranium outside of Wakanda leads them to Namor's kingdom, with the character and his followers killing countless soldiers and CIA operatives who come close to discovering them.

Despite his villain status, Namor isn't driven by a need for bloodshed, all he wants is to protect his people, which he tells Shuri when she is taken to his kingdom with Riri Williams, the gifted scientist who built the machine that can detect Vibranium anywhere in the world.

Namor offers Shuri a peace treaty, but this is broken when Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) comes to rescue her and Riri from Talokan and kills two of Namor's subjects in the process. This leads to an all-out war between the two nations.

With blood spilt on his side, Namor attacks Wakanda from the ocean and this results in the death of Queen Ramonda when she helps protect Riri from drowning.

It is Queen Ramonda's death that drives Shuri to finally take up the Black Panther title, and though she is determined to kill Namor for his part in her mother's death, in the end she shows mercy when she defeats him in battle, and they come to a peace treaty.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is out in theaters now.