By Ayah Hassan, Staff Writer
Black Panther was first released in 2018, quickly becoming popular in theaters, and even becoming a top twenty highest grossing movie of all time. Four years later in August of 2020, Chadwick Boseman, the actor who played T’challa, passed away at the age of 43.
A second Black Panther movie was promised when the first ended with a message that excited many fans: “Black Panther will return”. But how was that possible without the main character of the movie? Would they recast the black panther? Would another character be forced to become the legendary Black Panther? Fans could only guess what would happen and how the producers would get the second movie to live up to the high standards of the first.
In November of 2022, the second movie, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was released and currently has a rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars. Sophomore Taylor Person rates the movie a nine out of ten. “It was really good,” she says. Leyly Rezaei disagrees. “I would rate the new Black Panther movie a 20 out of ten!” She says, “The acting was very real and I felt very connected to the characters,”
Students at River Hill believe there are two main themes in the second movie. “A lot of women empowerment was in it,” says Taylor Person. Freshman Desky Mifield says that the second movie “had better character development.”
Which brings us to the real question: Which Black Panther movie is better? “I liked both of the Black Panther movies equally,” says Leyly. “They both had a very big impact on not just me but everyone who watched the movies.” Freshman Noor Dauod says she “liked the first one more because Chadwick Boseman was in it.” Desky Mifield disagrees with both of them. “I definitely like the second one more”, she says. So clearly there’s a difference in opinion. There are certain aspects that people like more about the first movie and aspects that they like more about the second.
There are many aspects of the first and second movie that made them very different from each other, including their plots. Desky felt that the characters having “more to lose if they didn’t win the fight” made the movie more interesting. Taylor loved how “They brought in so many different cultures into it… the scene by scene felt like it had a purpose” and how “it and it all tied together.”
Some new characters were introduced, and a lot of them stayed the same. Some had bigger roles in the second movie, some had smaller roles. People’s opinions differ when it comes to who the best character is. Desky and Noor, and Kaya Roy all agree that Shuri was the best character. “Cause she’s a girl boss!” says Kaya when asked why Shuri is her favorite character. Taylor says that her favorite character was Riri Williams. Leyly’s favorite character is Okey. Opinions vary about the new Black Panther movie. Some think the first movie was better, some like the second more. Some people like certain aspects of each movie. A lot of people have different favorite characters. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be available on Disney Plus on July 8th! Go watch it and tell us what you think.