It’s one of the most conservative, yet devastatingly powerful, decisions Marvel Studios has ever made, and it continues to be a point of debate among the fanbase. In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the audience is told that Chadwick Boseman‘s King T’Challa died from a sudden, unspecified disease. There is no apocalyptic battle, no heroic last stand against the forces of the universe.
Instead, the movie opens on a note of grief and urgency. Shuri is frantically working on a solution to recreate the Heart-Shaped Herb synthetically, hoping that the herb’s healing properties might be enough to save her brother’s life. But she is unable to complete the formula before T’Challa’s heart stops beating. Marvel Studios never tells the audience the disease that T’Challa died from, a choice that is eerily reminiscent of the real-life death of Chadwick Boseman.
T’Challa’s death in Wakanda Forever remains officially tied to disease
Canonically, T’Challa died from a disease, one that he never told even the people closest to him about. However, within the fanbase, an additional layer of meaning will not be forgotten. In Black Panther, Erik Killmonger sets fire to the Wakandan garden where the last of the Heart-Shaped Herbs remain. The herb is more than simply an ancient tradition; it is an alteration of the Panther’s very physiology at a cellular level. Should the herb’s power be dependent upon long-term equilibrium or access to its unique compounds, then the destruction of the natural source may have had unforeseen side effects beyond anyone’s comprehension.
The single line of dialogue that has garnered the greatest attention is when Shuri speaks to Erik within the Ancestral Plane, saying, “Don’t mention my brother. You’re the reason why he’s dead…” While it is obvious that Shuri is simply speaking from a place of grief, the fanbase has interpreted it as meaning that, by destroying the Heart-Shaped Herb, Erik may have inadvertently destroyed the only natural cure that could have saved the king of Wakanda.
Marvel has yet to officially state that this is the case, although Ryan Coogler’s reason for T’Challa’s death was a more grounded explanation, allowing the sequel to focus more on the mourning aspect rather than the vengeance aspect. Officially, T’Challa died of illness, although unofficially, the specter of the burning garden remains a dark shadow over the greatest tragedy to befall Wakanda.
