Angela Bassett Delivers a Powerful, Heartbreaking Reminder of What Was Lost in the ‘Wakanda Forever’ Trailer

During SDCC 2022 we got to see the first trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. This is one of the Marvel Phase Four movies I’ve been looking forward to the most, and it’s also the one that I knew I’d be the most emotional about. It’s hard not to feel a pang in your heart when you see Chadwick’s face being memorialized in the trailer, especially when you hear Angela Bassett (who plays his mother, Queen Ramonda) talk about how she’s lost her entire family.

“Have I not given everything?”

“I am Queen of the most powerful nation in the world, and my entire family is gone,” she says. “Have I not given everything?” Let me just say that having the music transition from Nigerian artist Tems’ rendition of Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry” to Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” is a cruel attack on my heart. We are NOT going to be alright after this movie, thanks. Those 12 seconds from Angela Bassett truly hurt me in a way I wasn’t ready for. I’m not just saying that as someone who will always miss the sense of community Boseman elicited from us, but the way Bassett’s voice cracks when she talks about the loss she’s gone through reminds me of how my mother sounded when my brother died.

T’Challa and Shuri had the same kind of relationship my brother and I had, so I already know when the movie tackles that, I’ll be a sobbing mess in the theater. But one thing I also remember when thinking about my brother is how my mother reacted, and that pain is exactly what I felt when I heard Bassett expressing her grief as Ramonda.

Some questioned why Ramonda said her entire family was gone when Shuri’s still around. Now, if this is something being said during present day (and assuming nothing’s happened to Shuri at this point), I don’t think Ramonda’s intentionally ignoring her. The grief a parent feels when losing a child is monumental – especially, from my own personal experience, the oldest child who has been a part of their life for a while (my brother and I were 13 whole years apart). That being said, the most logical explanation that many have pointed out is that this is something being said after the events of Infinity War. Several Marvel stories have shown what life has been like for the characters during and after the snap, but we still haven’t really seen how it affected Wakanda.

Wakanda, in my opinion, got hit the hardest in Infinity War. After being closed off from the rest of the world, Wakanda finally decided to open itself up… only for Thanos to emerge victorious. Imagine having to clean the aftermath of the biggest battle the world has ever seen after hiding from that world for so long? You have to deal with all that damage without half the population, and if you’re Ramonda, that includes your son AND daughter being gone (as we know Shuri was a victim of the snap, too). Before any of that happened, though, Ramonda lost her husband, as King T’Chaka died in Civil War. During the time between Infinity War and End Game, Ramonda lived without her husband and her children after an extremely devastating battle. I’m sure she (and others in Wakanda) are probably questioning whether or not opening themselves to everyone else was worth it.

Ramonda has lost so much in the MCU and as much as it hurts to hear her screaming about it, as a Black woman it feels like a much-needed release. Was I near tears when I heard Angela Bassett? Yes. Did it feel good to see a Black woman drawing attention to her pain and point out how hard it is to be expected to keep giving through her grief? Also yes. So many people expect you to keep moving, keep providing, keep working, keep going while you’re hurting – a conversation that’s been ongoing for decades with Black women, but especially during the times we live in now thanks to the pandemic. I relate so much to Ramonda’s declaration of, “Have I not given everything?” Because… haven’t I? Haven’t we? Hasn’t she?

Wakanda Forever will be released in theaters on November 11, 2022. If it’s anything like its trailer (and even those few seconds of Angela Bassett), I’m gonna need to go in with a box of Kleenex. It’s gonna hurt, but expressing our pain and the exhaustion of the expectations placed on you despite that hurt is exactly what we need to see.

(Featured image: Marvel Entertainment)

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