Let’s Talk About the Meaningful Layers of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s Post-Credits Scene

Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has finally hit theaters, and in the grand tradition of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there’s a post-credits scene to talk about.

Spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever lie ahead!

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has only one post-credit scene, and it does not attach it to any other Marvel works. Instead, it allows a character to live on in a new way.

In Black Panther, the main romance was between Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa and Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia. We haven’t seen them together in anything since Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. Nakia doesn’t attend the funeral at the start of Wakanda Forever, but we see her lady when the queen brings her in to try to rescue Shuri. When explaining her absence, she tells everyone that it would have been too much for her because T’Challa was her “everything.” Instead, Nakia is a teacher in Haiti.

Nakia invites Shuri to visit her, and during the post-credits scene, after Shuri has truly started her process of moving on, Nakia brings a young boy out. This young boy is named Toussaint, and he is Nakia and T’Challa’s son. Shuri instantly becomes emotional and asks if her mother and T’Challa knew. Nakia explains that T’Challa helped provide from them in Haiti so the boy could grow up without the tension of the throne. From his age and the fact that Nakia was not “blipped” away, it can be implied that this boy was concieved before and born during that period. The queen also knew about it.

Then, Toussaint tells his aunt Shuri that his true name, his Wakandan name, is T’Challa. It is a strong emotional moment, and the boy is very cute and has Chadwick Boseman’s dimples, which makes it easy to imagine this cute Black boy as the next generation. Right now, Shuri is the Black Panther, but this new young T’Challa represents a broader hope for the future and a reminder that T’Challa’s legacy—and Boseman’s—will live on in the young people, especially boys.

I also found that, in a film all about protecting the sovereign rights of marginalized people, Nakia is building this safe world for herself in Haiti and named her son after its most well known son: Haitian Revolutionary Leader Toussaint Louverture.

(featured image: Marvel)