The world suffered an irreversible loss when Chadwick Boseman died. The actor famously played T'Challa in the culturally groundbreaking Black Panther, and the sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, will deal with the character having also died, leaving Wakanda without a ruler.
Speaking to Total Film in the new issue of the magazine, featuring Enola Holmes 2 on the cover, Marvel boss Kevin Feige says Wakanda Forever asks, "How do you continue moving forward in the face of great loss and great tragedy, and in the face of a new threat, when all you want to do is maybe hide from the world, and process your grief, and a new, gigantic threat arrives that must be confronted? Which, of course, is Namor."
Yes, in terms of how the story of Wakanda Forever moves forward, that will be driven by one of the oldest characters in Marvel Comics: Namor the Sub-Mariner initially debuted back in 1939. In the comics, the character is a superhuman with aquatic abilities, and hails from Atlantis. "We were very much true to [the comic history] with a revised story that makes it much more culturally specific," says Feige.
In director Ryan Coogler’s vision, this Namor (played by Narcos: Mexico actor Tenoch Huerta, see our exclusive image above) is the ruler of Talocan, which is inspired by Aztec culture. In the first film, Michael B. Jordan’s compelling, insanely charismatic Killmonger set an extremely high bar for future Marvel villains to clear, but it sounds like Namor is cut from the same antagonistic cloth.
"I hope so!" laughs Huerta, when TF asks if audiences might gravitate to Namor in the same way they did to Killmonger. "I never try to compare myself with other actors with my characters. But, of course, he made a great antagonist, and people loved him. I loved that character when I saw the first Black Panther movie. I hope that people engage in the same way with Namor." Crucially, Huerta also says that the interpretation of Namor is true to the comics in the sense that he’s a mutant – another step in the MCU embracing mutants post-Ms. Marvel, opening the door for their own take on the X-Men.
You can read more from the team behind Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in the new issue of Total Film when it hits stands (and digital devices) this Thursday, October 13. The issue also features our in-depth interviews with the Enola Holmes 2 cast, along with a career retrospective with Daniel Radcliffe and features on The Banshees of Inisherin and Bill Nighy's Living.
And if you’re a fan of Total Film, why not subscribe so that you never miss an issue? You’ll have it delivered to your door before it’s in shops, you’ll save money on the cover price, and you’ll get exclusive subscriber-only covers. Plus, with the current offer you can get a free pair of EarFun headphones worth £55. Head to MagazinesDirect to find out more (Ts and Cs apply).
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