Black Panther Wakanda Forever cut romance track between Namor and Shuri

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is proving to be one of the most successful films this year from the Marvel stable.

The film has also earned critical acclaim, particularly in its handling of the complex antagonist Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta. However, the film’s editor recently revealed that initial plans included a romance angle between Namor and Letitia Wright’s Shuri.

In the film, Namor is the leader of an underwater kingdom that plans to wage war on the surface world in order to safeguard their interests. When efforts to get Wakanda over to their side fail, Namor attacks the kingdom, which is now led by Shuri, following the deaths of her brother and mother.

In an interview with Newsweek, the film’s editor Michael P Shawver spoke about the bond between Namor and Shuri. “I think what’s really interesting is there were takes where there were some connection there… and at one point in an early cut we discussed like, ‘Hey, do we leave it there? Do we just put it out there? Let’s just add some complexity to the relationship’.”

However, the plans were eventually scrapped as the makers felt it could jeopardise the plot. “But then you’ve got to watch out for portraying, for example, Shuri flirting to get what she wants as opposed to being a diplomatic leader and becoming the leader that she needs to be, that she’ll get to at the end. So, what we ultimately focused on was Namor’s line where he says, ‘only the most damaged people can be truly great leaders’, and that’s planting the seed of the shared trauma that she realizes at the end.”

Wakanda Forever is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and brings curtains to its Phase 4. The film, directed by Ryan Coogler, is the sequel to Black Panther (2018), which starred the late Chadwick Boseman in the lead.