Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has finally hit cinemas, and sticking to true Marvel tradition it features a massive post-credits sequence that will spark debate over the future of the franchise.
With the passing of T’Challa in Wakanda Forever, so many loose ends of the previous era of the character have needed to be tied up, and the nearly three-hour movie does a lot during its main runtime, the post-credits sequence has led to a major new talking point for the series.
What happens in the ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ post-credits sequence
Following Shuri burning her funeral gown on the beaches of Haiti, she is joined by Nakia and a somewhat familiar face seen earlier in the movie by Ramonda. Nakia reveals the young child is none other than T’Challa’s son, named after his father to carry on the legacy of the former king.
The scene also explains why Nakia didn’t attend her former lover’s funeral, with her citing Wakanda isn’t ready yet for his son to appear, and T’Challa wanted him to grow up outside of the pressures of the throne. T’Challa II is essentially Marvel’s way of planning for a much longer-term future, well beyond the foreseeable next four or five phases of storytelling.
T’Challa II also allows Marvel to honor Chadwick Boseman’s legacy in a long-term way, while also proving the Marvel universe is full of secrets and small plans that not everybody is aware of in-universe. Introducing the character now is also a much smarter choice than withholding the information for much longer, and it also gives Shuri further clarity and a sense of finality on her brother’s death.