Is there another recent superhero movie that overtly invites open weeping before the plot kicks in? If there is, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" director Ryan Coogler overrides previous efforts by acknowledging the crater Chadwick Boseman's shocking death left in our collective spirit. The actor died in August 2020 at the age of 43 from colon cancer, which he kept a secret from nearly everyone save those closest to him.
What he gave the world as King T'Challa, the Black Panther, is irreplaceable and worth grieving, both in the real world and the version of Earth where a secret African nation is the planet's foremost superpower.
