Marvel drops Black Panther 2 trailer with closer look at Michaela Coel’s fearless queer warrior
Michaela Cole as Aneka in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. (Marvel/Youtube)
The official trailer for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has been released, giving a closer look at Michaela Coel‘s character.
The new Wakanda Forever trailer arrives ahead of the film’s release on 11 November.
The sequel is highly-anticipated among fans who are waiting to see how the franchise will honour the late Chadwick Boseman, and who will pick up the mantle of Black Panther.
The two-minute trailer gives the clearest hint yet as to how the story will continue, showing an unidentified character wearing the Black Panther suit.
It also introduces Namor, the king of Atlantis, and shows Michaela Coel’s character in action.
In July 2021, it was announced Coel was joining the MCU in a new role and a year later it was confirmed she would be playing Aneka, a queer warrior in the Marvel comics.
In the comics Aneka is the combat instructor for the all-woman special forces team Dora Milaje and she has a romance with Ayo, who is played by Florence Kasuma in the movie.
In the first trailer, we saw a glimpse of Coel in action at the head of the army, and in the latest one we finally get a close up of her character as she slashes people down.
How the comic storyline will translate onto screen remains to be seen.
The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer also gives a glimpse at Ironheart’s suit.
Dominique Thorn plays the hero in the film and in the future Disney+ series Ironheart, which will feature the first ever MCU drag queen played by Shea Couleé, as well as the trans non-binary actor Zoe Terakes.
Coel, Couleé and Terakes all symbolise a shift from Marvel to include more queer characters and storylines. As Marvel’s executive vice president of film said during a Black Widow panel: “There’s a lot that we have coming up that I think will be representative of the world of today.
“We’re not going to nail it in the first movie or the second movie or third movie, or the first show or second show, but we will do our best to consistently try to represent.”
