Ryan Coogler Details Original ‘Black Panther 2’ Script Before Chadwick Boseman’s Death: T’Challa, His 8-Year-Old Son and a ‘180-Page Draft’ That ‘I Loved’
That sounds amazing. Chadwick would definitely have knocked that out of the park.
MC_chrome2025-12-30 04:51
It still amazes me that Chadwick was able to do what he did with the original Black Panther film, while also filming Infinity War at the same time then Endgame not long after as well as fighting colon cancer at the same time.
Truly one of the greats who was taken far too soon 😭
SeegullJockey2025-12-30 05:54
Chadwick vs Namor would've been a fire battle. With Shuri it was not as believable since she has barely any battle experience and is super skinny.
eyebrows3602025-12-30 10:26
> super skinny
She's powered by magic. This is an irrelevance.
CaptHayfever2025-12-30 17:47
It's stunning how many people who claim to enjoy superhero media don't understand the concept of superpowers. Like, do they expect Daredevil to have huge satellite-dish ears too?
_T_H_O_R_N_2025-12-30 18:09
"Literal gods and aliens I'm fine with, but a woman being as strong as a man is where I draw the line!!" Always has been a weird argument to me lol
cwhiterun2025-12-30 04:31
They should’ve just recast him.
Training_Pirate10002025-12-30 04:33
They were clearly too much in pain to recast him. Doesn’t Coogler note that they gave Boseman th script to read, but was in too much pain to read it?
VaishakhD2025-12-30 04:40
They should have just given him time off and recompose. There was no need of churning out another BP after endgame and what happened to Chadwick. Recasting should have been the choice. Im in the BP WF is fine camp, but its such a downer of a movie that Ill never watch it ever again. Marvel movies are not that.
Training_Pirate10002025-12-30 04:46
I love Black Panther 2 more than the first movie. Probably because the emotions are real. And it’s a beautiful memorial to Chadwick Boseman, especially with the reveal of his character’s son. But also, imagine the backlash Marvel would’ve gotten even if they recasted. It would be unnecessary, but the movie that was made was great. Is it a downer, yeah, it’s depressing, but I still find it good.
25803742025-12-30 04:57
Yeah I actually think the second one is way better. I just think making shuri Black panther was a mistake, but the emotional beats and acting were great
GreyMatterist72025-12-30 05:02
Can I ask who you think should have taken the mantle instead? I say this as someone who loved WF (actually quite a bit more than the first film, though Boseman’s presence is verily missed) and thought Shuri taking on the role was emotionally and narratively earned and well executed.
-BINK2014-2025-12-30 05:09
Killmonger was my vote. I wanted to see a redemption arc after a resurrection.
*Edit:* Downvotes for stating a curious opinion? Nothing against Shuri, I was just theorizing originally he’s be resurrected. 🤷🏻♂️
SkintCrayon2025-12-30 05:20
I don't think it would have made sense plot wise in a direct sequel movie.
He had a lot of redemptioning to go through
Training_Pirate10002025-12-30 05:24
Having Killmonger get magically resurrected is a bit tone-deaf don’t you think. Killmonger, a horrible person, a murderer, gets resurrected, but T’Challa doesn’t? How twisted is that?
-BINK2014-2025-12-30 05:33
Would be on the writer to handwave it in a way that makes sense. 🤷🏻♂️ I just would’ve been curious to see it.
Training_Pirate10002025-12-30 05:38
So instead of having T’Challa’s currently alive blood relative take the mantle, you’d rather Coogler bullshit a way for Killmonger to become Black Panther, which ultimately undermines the first film? That would fucking suck.
B00STERGOLD2025-12-31 11:54
Killmonger was dumped into the ocean. You could easily open the movie with a hand pulling his body into the depths.
inherentinsignia2025-12-30 05:12
Not the guy you’re replying to, but I think there was a hot minute there where people were convinced Coogler was going to do a switcheroo and recast T’Challa as MBJ, given their track record together. Whether that happened through a “What If?” type scenario or some other multiversal shenanigans, I still think it would have been fascinating to see the guy who played the villain in the first movie return as an alt-universe recast of his arch-nemesis. Would it have been as good? Who knows, but MBJ still stole the show in both movies as it is, so there’s a chance it would have been incredible.
justplainndaveCGN2025-12-30 05:17
I mean…you had Mbaku right there, especially after him and BP became friends.
He was a worthy successor and would have done right by BP.
Mills652025-12-30 05:32
As much as I absolutely love Winston Duke, don't Mbaku and his tribe follow a different animal god? So he wouldn't accept the mantle of the Black Panther because of that? Instead of the panther, theirs is a gorilla?
Excuse me if I'm mistaken, it's been a while since I actively read/looked up this stuff
SuperIga2025-12-30 05:46
Well I mean he literally fought for the mantle in the first movie.
Mills652025-12-30 05:47
Was that for the mantle of BP or just the ruler of Wakanda? Need to watch the first Black Panther again soon to refresh my memory
eagc72025-12-30 07:09
He fought to be king, not to be Black Panther
justplainndaveCGN2025-12-30 14:55
Yes, but he would have also become black panther through the rite of combat
B00STERGOLD2025-12-31 11:58
They didn't have the balls to do Man-Ape and I get why. Mbaku kills and bathes in an albino gorilla's blood to get his powers.
eagc72025-12-30 06:02
M'Baku doesn't make sense since he worships the ape god and not Bashenga, so his alter ego would be more ape themed than Panther
DSmooth4252025-12-30 05:37
> *thought Shuri taking on the role was emotionally and narratively earned and well executed.*
I’m with you on this. Don’t feel like arguing about online but I agree. Also liked that they ended with M’baku taking on the role as leader of Wakanda. I think that recasting in a sequel film will work fine. People are real impatient and I get it some but disagree.
Free-Bar-27192025-12-30 11:47
The main character of the franchise T’challa. They didn’t have to kill the character either, setting the movie during the blip could’ve easily sufficed.
Rustash2025-12-30 06:09
I felt like BP2 just felt more…intentional. It uses its runtime and plot much more effectively than the first, which I always thought felt…a little lost?
Linnus422025-12-30 15:22
BPWF actually put the focus on the MAIN CHARACTER in Shuri.
Whereas for BP1, Coogler wasn't interested in T'Challa. He missed like a third of the movie after losing to Eric. His super genius was given to Shuri, opening wakanda was made into Nakia's idea, and Killmonger was presented as the revolutionary.
Coogler can claim he read Priest....but there is none of Priest in Ryan's T'Challa.
eyebrows3602025-12-30 10:27
> Probably because the emotions are real.
The absolute silence in the cinema on opening night during those two key moments was an amazing shared experience.
TheQuinnBee2025-12-30 14:01
They recast all the time. Rhodes was recast with an actor who looked nothing like the first, Bruce Banner same deal, Cassie Lang was recast twice, Ross, Howard Stark, Thanos, Reed Richards, Johnny Storm.
adrian-alex852025-12-30 04:47
I simply don’t think your personal definition of what Marvel films are/aren’t is more important than the emotional state/needs of the artists making those films. The notion that simply recasting Chadwick would equate to getting a film as good as the original script intended is nonsensical.
thesagaconts2025-12-30 04:49
Agreed. Plenty of amazing actors who could have taken over the role.
matty_nice2025-12-30 05:12
I really depends on if Marvel was always gonna go with the post SW reboot/reset.
Since they are going with the reboot/reset, just recast Tchalla after Secret Wars.
Beginning_Purple_5792025-12-30 06:17
Please dont forget that Disney is just a big heartless money making machine that couldnt care less about any person working under them. All they care for are profits and they are smart enough to calculate the backlash that a recast would have caused.
Training_Pirate10002025-12-30 06:29
Are you calling Coogler and the crew and the actors who worked on Black Panther heartless? Please don’t forget that not everyone is an uncaring monster like you think they are.
Beginning_Purple_5792025-12-30 06:32
None of these people have any actual power in the decision process if someone from higher up wants things a different way. And in the end it's whatever has more potential to get the shareholders richer.
Free-Bar-27192025-12-30 11:44
They should’ve waited if that was the case, and it was too sad. No one forced them to make a movie when they did.
CaptHayfever2025-12-30 17:49
> No one forced them to make a movie when they did.
Shareholders.
KrifeH2025-12-30 04:50
[deleted]
Playful-Artichoke-672025-12-30 04:57
😆 BP2 was meh. I won’t say it’s the worst MCU movie but one of the handful that I know for sure I’ll never watch again.
-BINK2014-2025-12-30 05:08
I would’ve rather Killmonger been resurrected by Namor & gotten his redemption arc honestly. j
Jordan played an excellent villain with potential, but I think he was killed off too quickly.
justplainndaveCGN2025-12-30 05:17
There was no redemption arc. lol
rosecoredarling2025-12-30 11:40
Seriously what are these people on about, he doesn't WANT redemption, he truly believes in what he stood for and that's what makes him so impactful to the conflict of that movie. MBJ is a top tier MCU actor but bringing him back would just be too much of a good thing and ruin the strength of the first movie.
super_sayanything2025-12-30 05:18
This is what I would've wanted. MBJ simply created an amazing character, one of my favorites in cinema tbh.
super_sayanything2025-12-30 05:17
They should have waited awhile and given it time but.... $$$$.
It was still too fresh tbh.
eagc72025-12-30 06:28
If the decision was up to me i would've pushed Wakanda Forever by a year or two
WatchOutForWizards2025-12-30 05:36
I’ll still never understand making Leticia Wright the new panther when Lupita N’yongo was right there.
eagc72025-12-30 05:46
I think it boils down to Shuri being Black Panther in the comics
SUPREMACY_SAD_AI2025-12-30 08:23
I'm glad they didn't.
Free-Bar-27192025-12-30 11:49
Using his death as a gimmick to sell their movie was egregious.
OverSpeedClutch2025-12-30 14:38
I agree. Chadwick spoke many times about how great of an opportunity it was for him to play the character, and I really believe that he would not have wanted that opportunity to die with him.
eBICgamer20102025-12-30 04:32
>“[I] wanted to base it on the Christopher Priest run of ‘Panther,’ and his run starts with Panther and Kraven in the kitchen,” Coogler said. “That’s the first thing. It’s Ross, Panther and Kraven fighting in the kitchen.”
>“I’m a big Spider-Man fan, especially ‘Spider-Man: The Animated Series.’ Kraven is in that. He’s also great in the books,” Coogler continued. “I was like, ‘Yo, can I have Kraven in the movie?’ They were like, ‘We don’t think so, but let us check.’ So, they hit Sony, and Sony was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ They came back to me like, ‘Yo, we can’t do it.’ So, I was like, ‘Okay.’”
Reheated news, but damn that's exactly what I want to see. I don't just want to see Spider-Man interact with the wider Marvel universe, but his supporting cast too.
The only two instances in the entire MCU where this happened (outside of the SM films) were Aunt May speaking to Tony and fucking Mysterio vs. Ironheart in What If...?, and he's been on loan to Marvel for 10 years.
JasonZod12025-12-30 04:43
Should be noted he said it was an either Kraven or Klaw situation. He said he was glad to have worked with Andy Serkis.
Rustash2025-12-30 06:03
I still think they absolutely wasted his character in BP1
SteveRogests2025-12-30 07:47
Serkis is underused in everything. HOWEVER: if we’d gotten more Klaue I believe it would have made him less interesting, not more.
Rustash2025-12-30 08:00
They still could have done the same thing, just don’t kill him. Then keep him in a Wakandan prison until the sequel.
Nonadventures2025-12-30 23:07
He just couldn’t swim!
JasonZod12025-12-30 16:00
Thinking of Marvel movies up to 2018.
I was genuinely shocked/surprised they killed him. So it worked within the film.
SpaceCaboose2025-12-30 13:39
I don’t think they should have killed Klaue, but overall his inclusion in Black Panther did help in continuing to build the connectivity of the MCU since he had first been introduced in Age of Ultron. Was cool seeing that character again.
Adoree252025-12-30 04:46
I want a Spider Man movie with Kraven as the main villain so bad.
DSmooth4252025-12-30 05:33
I just watched Kraven and it wasn’t as bad as the furor around it was imo but I definitely would prefer to have seen Kraven try his luck against Spiderman. I think the director said that’s the only sequel he’d do
stonespiral2025-12-30 05:46
I heard it was pretty good as far as that run of Sony marvel movies goes but that's a pretty grim run so it wasn't nearly enough to sell me on it.
DSmooth4252025-12-30 06:09
Someone posted the first 17 minutes of the movie on this sub around the time of the release and the comments were brutal. I’d planned to but didn’t watch it then. I didn’t watch Madame Web and Morbius was pretty bad, so I don’t disagree to an extent. Sony has proven they can’t be trusted with these type of movies the majority of the time. ATJ as Kraven in the MCU against Spidey or Black Panther as a villain or anti-hero I would watch in theaters. They didn’t act like he was a hero on the outtro which i appreciated.
zer0se7en2wo2025-12-30 22:28
Same. Idk if you play video games, but I’m a third through Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Kraven’s the main villain. So far I’ve barely interacted with Kraven but I’m excited how it goes down.
nova-prime-enjoyer2025-12-30 05:29
In the reality where Chadwick is still alive and BP2 still maintains its basic structure, it still means we lost what would’ve been an incredible interpretation of a classic villain to a shit tier solo movie nobody asked for
Exzqairi2025-12-30 05:40
The Sony way
I’m confident they thought all those garbage ass movies could turn into their own Sony Spider extended universe to make their non-MCU Spider Man movie again
eagc72025-12-30 05:46
I would tell Sony that at this rate just let Marvel tackle the live action movies exclusively
And anything non-MCU should be their Spider-Verse animated movies.
TheQuinnBee2025-12-30 13:52
I know that Sony taking spiderman's movie rights saved marvel, but whoever agreed to the contract was so short sighted. It shouldn't have been an in-perpetuity-as-long-as-you-make-a-halfassed-movie-every-so-often deal.
eagc72025-12-30 20:40
To be fair when they signed the deal Marvel wasn't planning on doing their own films.
nova-prime-enjoyer2025-12-30 05:46
Nothing actually banned them from using Spider-Man either, this information came out like last year a little after Kraven bombed
ad_maru2025-12-30 06:20
Technically, Happy too
FilmScoreConnoisseur2025-12-30 06:25
>Reheated news, but damn that's exactly what I want to see. I don't just want to see Spider-Man interact with the wider Marvel universe, but his supporting cast too.
Yes! Give me Norman Osborn vs the Avengers you cowards!
zombie_singh062025-12-30 07:33
>“I was like, ‘Yo, can I have Kraven in the movie?’ They were like, ‘We don’t think so, but let us check.’ So, they hit Sony, and Sony was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ They came back to me like, ‘Yo, we can’t do it.’ So, I was like, ‘Okay.’”
It reads like Luis’ narration
Ronho2025-12-30 23:35
I would pay to read/watch luis’ narrations
SUPREMACY_SAD_AI2025-12-30 08:22
sony is cringe
Bomban1112025-12-30 14:50
Because the Sony/Marvel deal has a time limit, Marvel has seemingly been hesitant to rely on Spidey TOO much. The more they rely on him, the more leverage Sony has when the deal comes time to renegotiate.
eagc72025-12-30 20:38
Yeah like people here have said that Spider-Man should had been the face of the MCU post-Tony and Steve and in paper it makes sense, but the deal as you pointed out does not allow Marvel to use the webhead and in his supporting cast as much as they would've wanted, Marvel can only use him for the solo films and a limited amount of team up films (Like when they renewed the deal for No Way Home, the current deal only allowed Marvel to make use the Spider-Man IP in one more team up film during the Multiverse Saga)
ChildofObama2025-12-30 04:37
They should do it as a graphic novel
PhotoBonjour_bombs192025-12-30 08:00
Or a what if…? Oh wait never mind
ShaneH76462025-12-30 12:00
What if...? What if story ideas were good
n_mcrae_19822025-12-30 15:36
Hey, a lot of the first and second seasons episodes (and one third season episode that was carried over from the second) were a lot of fun, when they weren’t trying to make it the Watcher and Captain Carter Show.
PhotoBonjour_bombs192025-12-31 01:43
Yeah the shoe isn’t bad just disappointing
_Levitated_Shield_2025-12-30 19:02
Why have it in a different universe instead of the main one? 💀
PomegranateHelpful132025-12-30 21:41
What if?... Peggy Carter was in this one?
LewisRyan2026-01-01 17:56
I was with my ex when season 2 came out, and we were watching the episode of kaoiri (however you spell it)
At the end of the episode, neither of us liked it, but I’d assumed there was a comic reference we weren’t getting so I looked it up.
And said “oh… it’s an original story for this show… so it’s “what if marvel made some shit up” and the answer is it’s bad”
HorsNoises2025-12-30 14:56
So a graphic novel based on a movie based on a graphic novel? Just read the OG lol.
hjablowme9192025-12-30 04:52
Three hours? Hopefully the editor would have chipped an hour from the movie
Bearjupiter2025-12-30 05:25
Should have recasted BLACK PANTHER
Cripnite2025-12-30 06:16
As much as I miss Chadwick in this role, I still feel like it should have been recast rather than written out.
Dancing_Hitchhiker2025-12-30 18:07
Yea I think it would have been for the best tbh, I mean I get why they didn’t but it would have overall been better for MCU and the black panther franchise.
FisknChips2025-12-31 04:59
Even he wanted that
Mudrat2025-12-30 06:24
I don’t like this man’s movies. Does that make me racist?
DefNotReaves2025-12-30 08:04
No, you just have bad taste.
Mudrat2025-12-30 11:45
I mean, to each their own, right? Apologies if I don’t like the same movies as you.
Odd-Spray-85132025-12-30 15:48
What do you think of Sinners?
Endgam2025-12-30 07:25
He talked about this before. He even asked for Val before he knew they already had plans for her in TFatWS. Him wanting to use Kraven is a new detail though.
Doc-11th2025-12-30 09:07
pretty sure we've heard about this before
T'Challa trying to connect to his son, who's early years he missed out on and who has been raised by Nakia and another man, because of the whole snap.
Then Namor shows up.
It being a ritual is something new though, before sounded like just his son spending a summer in Wakanda with T'challa
Free-Bar-27192025-12-30 11:51
Should’ve waited(and recasted) and not made a man’s death into a gimmick to sell your movie.
gorillafightsurvivor2025-12-30 15:07
I think Marvel should release it as a screenplay book, similar to what A24 does. I would love to read this.
n_mcrae_19822025-12-30 15:38
I remember reading that Chadwick liked that “Star Lord T’Challa” was more jovial and had more of a sense of humour, and wanted to integrate that into the films.
snidece2025-12-30 16:10
What a future they had planned for Boseman (RIP). This household has always contended that losing Boseman threw MCU off the rails, and disrupted plans and story lines as much as the disruption when all the Kang plans were scrapped. Again, RIP Boseman.
Si-Guy242025-12-30 18:41
So sad, this would have been an amazing film and awesome to see Boseman in. rip
_Levitated_Shield_2025-12-30 19:05
Meanwhile Amy Pascal wanted Venom connected to the MCU [in that infamous interview](https://scified.com/u/maxresdefault13.jpg).
Sony logic.
Nonadventures2025-12-30 23:05
I mean, they still have the 8 year old kid. They’re clearly moving that way.
Commentaires
Truly one of the greats who was taken far too soon 😭
She's powered by magic. This is an irrelevance.
*Edit:* Downvotes for stating a curious opinion? Nothing against Shuri, I was just theorizing originally he’s be resurrected. 🤷🏻♂️
He had a lot of redemptioning to go through
He was a worthy successor and would have done right by BP.
Excuse me if I'm mistaken, it's been a while since I actively read/looked up this stuff
I’m with you on this. Don’t feel like arguing about online but I agree. Also liked that they ended with M’baku taking on the role as leader of Wakanda. I think that recasting in a sequel film will work fine. People are real impatient and I get it some but disagree.
Whereas for BP1, Coogler wasn't interested in T'Challa. He missed like a third of the movie after losing to Eric. His super genius was given to Shuri, opening wakanda was made into Nakia's idea, and Killmonger was presented as the revolutionary.
Coogler can claim he read Priest....but there is none of Priest in Ryan's T'Challa.
The absolute silence in the cinema on opening night during those two key moments was an amazing shared experience.
Since they are going with the reboot/reset, just recast Tchalla after Secret Wars.
Shareholders.
Jordan played an excellent villain with potential, but I think he was killed off too quickly.
It was still too fresh tbh.
>“I’m a big Spider-Man fan, especially ‘Spider-Man: The Animated Series.’ Kraven is in that. He’s also great in the books,” Coogler continued. “I was like, ‘Yo, can I have Kraven in the movie?’ They were like, ‘We don’t think so, but let us check.’ So, they hit Sony, and Sony was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ They came back to me like, ‘Yo, we can’t do it.’ So, I was like, ‘Okay.’”
Reheated news, but damn that's exactly what I want to see. I don't just want to see Spider-Man interact with the wider Marvel universe, but his supporting cast too.
The only two instances in the entire MCU where this happened (outside of the SM films) were Aunt May speaking to Tony and fucking Mysterio vs. Ironheart in What If...?, and he's been on loan to Marvel for 10 years.
I was genuinely shocked/surprised they killed him. So it worked within the film.
I’m confident they thought all those garbage ass movies could turn into their own Sony Spider extended universe to make their non-MCU Spider Man movie again
And anything non-MCU should be their Spider-Verse animated movies.
Yes! Give me Norman Osborn vs the Avengers you cowards!
It reads like Luis’ narration
At the end of the episode, neither of us liked it, but I’d assumed there was a comic reference we weren’t getting so I looked it up.
And said “oh… it’s an original story for this show… so it’s “what if marvel made some shit up” and the answer is it’s bad”
T'Challa trying to connect to his son, who's early years he missed out on and who has been raised by Nakia and another man, because of the whole snap.
Then Namor shows up.
It being a ritual is something new though, before sounded like just his son spending a summer in Wakanda with T'challa
Sony logic.