Originally Posted by
Blind Wedjat
Maybe I'm being to apprehensive, but I don't see how you can do everything you're talking about here in one movie while T'Challa is still the focus. It's very very ambitious, and while there's nothing wrong with that, it's putting too much movie in a movie (something the Aquaman film had a problem with). You suddenly have to throw in lots and lots of exposition to get people up to speed, and you lose character development because of that. This sort of thing you're describing works in comics or a TV series where you have more than enough time to tell all those plot threads, not in a 2-3 hour film.
What Coogler has shown me at least in the first film is that he sees T'Challa and Wakanda as a beacon of hope that can be used to help and make the world a better place. I don't see you can fully realise that idea if you're putting Wakanda at war with yet another secret advanced nation. All you're doing is emphasising why Wakanda is a global instrument of war, not of peace.
What I want (and what I think Coogler should do) is go in the direction of showing Wakanda actually start to make changes in a world (being the MCU world) that we know now has issues of systematic oppression, especially for the black diaspora. Think about how bold that is for a second. Part of what made the first film connect with so many of us was the wish fulfillment. Killmonger's dream is something many recognise as violent, but the idea behind irt (fighting back against centuries of ongoing oppression) is something many people WISH they could do. That's why the character became a huge deal, because as fictional as he was, several of his lines played on people's real emotions. I still think that little speech N'Jobu gave to T'Chaka in his apartment is the boldest scene in the entire MCU, because it was, as they say, "real shit."
The sequel needs to come with that same energy, or I guarantee you it will not have the same reverence as the first film. You talk about politics, and I say this is the kind of politics the sequel should zero in on. I admit being the pointman of all superhero politics sounds appealing, but you have to put him on that level first, which is what the sequel needs to do first by establishing and discussing Wakanda as the new world superpower running things people don't expect, in ways that speak truth to the audience, in ways they WISH things could be in the real world. Like Killmonger said, "Wakanda has the tools to liberate them all" but this time it's science, information, education, poverty reduction, aid, refugee programs, and social outreach. How do world governments feel about that? How does that change the dynamics of who's on top and who's at the bottom? How does that shake up the status quo? That's the sort of thing the sequel should address because no film has ever gone there before.
I'll admit I didn't see that Yetide tagged Coogler (seeing that he doesn't have a Twitter account) because I don't look at hashtags for some habit/reason. Still, my initial comment was not directed at you, and it does not particularly make her post relevant here still. I'm saying that so we keep things on topic, because one thing I particularly do not like is when suddenly I have to go through 5 pages of pointless and stale Storm debate. It's the same things over and over, the same feelings, the same arguments. It derails the thread, and it's not needed. Good on Yetide for pulling a Simu Liu and campaigning for Storm (she is actually a pick I would love to see), but seeing as how many would react to Storm stuff here, why post it here? A rumour that Storm may appear in the sequel is far more relevant to the topic that someone campaigning for a role likely to not be initially attached to BP.
I should also add this and make of it what you will: I would greatly like Storm as a character if I personally felt she had a lot more going for her other than being BP's fling at the moment. I would greatly like to see her contribute something to the recent House of X/Powers of X event that justifies her existence as an X-Man. Some people have said it here, and I completely agree with it: There is no point associating Storm with the BP franchise if the X-Books aren't ready to relinquish her to the BP franchise fully. Seeing that will probably never happen, I want to see Storm be a fully fledged character with her own agency and more standout moments and stories in the franchise she is part of now, rather than being in the background there and then being in another franchise as a supporting character. You'd be wrong to assume I'm a Storm hater, because the time she was used in Hudlin's BP run are among my favourite BP stories. I'm simply saying I do not think what you want for her is what she deserves.