A big, rangy Marvel follow-up — made without the grand presence of Chadwick Boseman, who died two years after “Black Panther” came out in 2018 — “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” acknowledges the loss of both King T’Challa and the actor who played him with a grave and moving extended prologue. It’s exactly right, down to the last flip-flip-flip of the Marvel Studios logo dedicated this time to images of the star no longer with us.
This is followed by an hour or so of scene-setting, reintroductions and introductions deft and engaging enough to make you think: Can all this really be sustained in the back half? (The full running time is 2 hours, 41 minutes, or 26 minutes longer than the first “Black Panther.”)
If the answer is no, well, welcome to the majority of Marvel sequels, and sequels in general.
