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01x01 - The Women of Black Panther

Episode transcripts for the TV show, "MPower". Aired: March 8, 2023.*
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The history and untold stories of the most iconic women in the Marvel Cinematic Universe are revealed.

01x01 - The Women of Black Panther

Post by bunniefuu »

ANGELA BASSETT:
With Black Panther,

we've never seen
a world like this,

populated with so many
different faces and colors.

Women who look like me in
their resplendent glory

were few and far between,

and had never been quite
realized or seen before.

I fell in love with this story,

almost as if I'm on
the outside looking in.

RAMONDA: Shuri.

BASSETT: As a little girl,

as an audience member,
as a woman of color...

(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)

enamored with cinema
and characters

and how they can
inspire onscreen.

RAMONDA: It is your time.

BASSETT: And Black
Panther is that story

that truly has
transported audiences.

- T'CHALLA: Wakanda forever!
- PEOPLE: Wakanda forever!

I'm unstoppable

I'm a Porsche with no brakes

I'm invincible

Yeah, I win every single game

I'm so powerful

I don't need batteries to play

I'm so confident

Yeah, I'm unstoppable today

Unstoppable today
Unstoppable today

Unstoppable today
I'm unstoppable today

We are home.

LUPITA NYONG'O: The representation
of women in Black Panther...

(PEOPLE CHEERING)

is plentiful and varied.

And I think those things
are incredibly vital.

We don't see enough
of that in cinema.

You are not fit to be a king!

(GRUNTS)

(BOTH GRUNTING)

The idea of being a woman
in charge of things...

It's embedded in the very DNA of how this
story was built from the beginning...

Don't touch anything.

That these women
were that powerful.

Take her to the River Province
to prepare her for the ceremony.

Yes, General.

NYONG'O: We were very much the
backbone of the male superhero.

A very capable group of women who
support him in very different ways.

His sister, his mother,

his lover, his general.

Typically, there's not a lot of
strong female characters in cinema.

And then, if you then think about
Black female characters, boy.

That is a very shallow pool.

(WHISPERING)

MOORE: But heroes get to be
whoever we define them to be.

(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

- (GRUNTING)
- (g*nshots)

TRINH TRAN: Black
Panther was a very

female-driven, you know,
feature, which was amazing.

(PEOPLE GRUNTING)

And we wanted to make sure

that the female superheroes
stand next to the men

and they're equally badass.

- (BELLOWS)
- (GRUNTS)

(BOTH GRUNT)

HANNAH BEACHLER: This is
empowering for so many people

to see on a huge screen

Black women who are
really powerful.

(PEOPLE GRUNTING, SHOUTING)

Women are beacons of strength.

When you see yourself
represented in all your power,

you're reassured that
we're okay in the world.

(MAN YELPS)

GURIRA: Women, Black women,

can be represented in
so many different ways.

- Hold tight!
- (ENGINE REVS)

We can take on many different
roles very powerfully.

MAN: And action!

NYONG'O: It was all
of us coming together

to represent powerful women.

For centuries, we have
kept our people safe.

And doing it with such
ownership and such passion.

- MAN 1: Set.
- MAN 2: Action.

BASSETT: We're so excited
to work with one another,

and I think it's something about
the strength of these women.

FLORENCE KASUMBA: When I
go to work, it's my normal

that I have all these
female colleagues.

And we learn from each
other, we see each other,

and we have the feeling
that we are represented.

And together, we are great

because we know what our strengths
are, and we support each other.

In Black Panther, there
wasn't just one superhero.

The Dora Milaje is
a tribe of them.

The Dora Milaje is an all-female
guard and warrior unit.

You know, they're kind of
like, um, the Secret Service,

if you crossed them
with Navy SEALs.

- Come on!
- (SCREAMING)

TRAN: To have the Dora Milaje

as a representation of
the army for Wakanda,

as the protector of
the Queen and King,

that says so much.

Regardless of what
gender you are,

you can do anything.

(SPEAKING XHOSA)

AUTUMN DURALD ARKAPAW: The Dora,
they're just so gorgeous and powerful.

They look amazing on camera

when they're together and when
they're all doing their moves.

- (SPEAKING XHOSA)
- (GRUNTS)

The idea of stepping into a
role like the Dora Milaje,

with these women
being the rescuers,

that, of course, was
palpably appealing.

NYONG'O: In the comic book,

the role of the Dora
Milaje is quite akin

to kind of the motif of p*mps
and hoes, unfortunately.

They're very scantily clothed.

They only speak to their king.

And that was something

that Ryan really wanted
to get away from,

and give the Dora Milaje agency.

CARTER: They were not in heels,
they were not in bathing suit tops,

and some of the comics do
present them in that way.

GURIRA: And so,
there's an evolution

of how they are
in the comic book

and how they've
evolved on the screen.

SARAH TRULY BEERS: This
is how it should be

when you're in an equal society,

where the women are
equal to the men.

(ALL GRUNTING)

(WOMAN SCREAMS)

CARTER: Dora Milaje
means "the adorned ones."

Okoye is the general

and she's the only Dora
Milaje adorned in gold.

The other Dora wear silver.

And so, Okoye represents

great power and
strength of women,

and the dedication to
her country, Wakanda.

(SPEAKING XHOSA)

GURIRA: Okoye is comfortable with
being a leader in a man's world.

She believes with all her soul

in this nation, Wakanda,

and would very willingly
give her life for it.

Wakanda was not colonized.

It was able to nurture
itself and, as a result,

became the most technologically
advanced nation on the planet.

So that made it very easy
to slip into her skin...

Something's entered
the atmosphere.

Because the idea of protecting
that really makes sense to me.

I'm very vigilant
about making sure,

I guess, that my life
is being led by me.

GURIRA: I was born in
a tiny town in Iowa

called Grinnell where
my dad was a professor.

My parents, they were academics

and they gave me and my
siblings all Shona names,

Shona being the language
of my nation, Zimbabwe.

Danai means "to love one
another," or "to be in love,"

based on the fact that I
was born on Valentine's Day.

I didn't know about this

until my mom sat me
down and told me.

I just knew my name to be Dede

because no one could
pronounce Danai properly.

(GROWLS)

And as a kid, you're just looking
to fit in as best as possible.

(GROWLS)

When I was around five or
six, we moved to Zimbabwe,

very soon after it had just
come out from colonial rule,

and moved from being
called "Rhodesia,"

after a white man called
Cecil John Rhodes,

to being called "Zimbabwe,"
which means "house of stone."

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

I was in schooling systems
that were not prone to saying

a lot of Shona names.

(BELL DINGING)

When I was in high school,

I went to a place called
the Dominican Convent.

It's an all-girls Catholic
school founded by German nuns.

And one day, I just went off on
a lot of white girls in the class

about not saying
African names right,

and I started to use my
own name as an example.

(GROWLS)

And rage of the fact that my
name was not spoken properly,

even in my own country,

became real.

And I think that really
solidified for me

that Danai is the name I
needed to be called by.

It's a defining moment.

I am loyal to that throne,
no matter who sits upon it!

What are you loyal to?

NYONG'O: Okoye is steeped in
her loyalty to the throne.

She is, like, made
of that stuff.

(STUTTERS) All her
DNA is about that job.

She's a nationalist.

She believes in the
borders of Wakanda,

in them being
independent of the world.

And Nakia challenges that ideal.

OKOYE: This man is a foreign
intelligence operative.

How do we justify bringing
him into our borders?

He took a b*llet for me.

That was his choice.

But what I love about the
relationship between Nakia and Okoye

is that the respect
is always felt.

These women respect each other

for being very good
at their approach,

and their goal is the same,

which is to protect and prosper
their nation and their people.

I am a spy with no army.

Help me overthrow him.

KASUMBA: Nakia is
a very free spirit,

doesn't always go by the book.

(CHUCKLES)

She is skilled like the Doras,

but she has something
which is great,

because she says, "I
want to help everyone."

- NAKIA: T'Challa, no!
- (GRUNTS)

This one's just a boy.

MOORE: We meet Nakia in action.

Immediately, you're drawn
to her, her physicality,

but it's also the
compassion in her eyes.

Traditionally, spies
are untrustworthy,

people who look out for
their own self-interest,

but she is incredibly
altruistic.

Thank you.

Yes.

MOORE: And in some ways, she
is the conscience of Wakanda.

I've seen too many in need
just to turn a blind eye.

I can't be happy here

knowing that there's people
out there who have nothing.

Nakia is very much a
part of innovation,

a part of how do we change,

how do we modernize,
how do we move forward,

how do we break rules
that need to be broken?

We could provide aid

and access to technology and
refuge to those who need it.

Other countries do it.
We could do it better.

NYONG'O: Nakia is
very passionate,

fiery, empathetic,
the lone wolf.

She goes on her own path.

She challenges the status-quo,

and I love that about her,
and I definitely share that.

The child version of Lupita

was very imaginative.

Growing up in Kenya,

I played a lot on my own.

I liked to climb trees

and I spent a lot of
time making up worlds.

And I realized

I just enjoyed the worlds I made
up more than the real world.

I remember when I
was in high school,

there was a rule that
we weren't allowed

to dye our hair blond or red.

So I dyed it blue.

(LAUGHING)

So I identify with
that spirit in Nakia,

the one who asks,

"Okay, why are things
the way they are?"

When I was introduced
to Wakanda,

I felt immediately
protective of it.

Because it's made of dreams.

Because Wakanda is the
only African nation

that has never had

the imposition of colonialism.

It has been able
to self-actualize.

For me, what we've imbued in it

is a nostalgia that never was.

And you see a country that
is very forward-thinking,

but one that is also very
embracing of tradition.

And growing up as an African,

I found myself grappling

with this idea of
tradition and modernity.

It's a real dichotomy

that exists on the
African continent.

There's an old world and then
there's an accelerated world

that has almost forgotten,

or is rejecting, that old world.

And in Wakanda,

this tension exists
with the Shuri character

who finds herself in that
extreme corner of innovation

where she is really questioning

the validity of the
traditional ways.

- My King! (CHUCKLES)
- Stop it.

SHURI: This corset is
really uncomfortable,

so could we all just
wrap it up and go home?

Yes!

MOORE: With tradition
versus innovation,

Shuri very much
over-indexes on innovation.

But she's very self-assured
as a character,

which a lot of women and,
and young girls respond to.

Why do you have your
toes out in my lab?

I wanted to go old-school
for my first day.

I bet the Elders loved that.

(CHUCKLES)

Shuri is bold in her choices

about science and technology

and creation.

She's always thinking of
solutions to help her country.

I'm here for the EMP beads.
I've developed an update.

Update? No, it worked perfectly.

Just because something works doesn't
mean that it cannot be improved.

BEERS: Shuri represents
the future in so many ways.

She has these hopes and dreams,

and she's also out
there doing it.

SHURI: The nanites
absorb the kinetic energy

and hold it in place
for redistribution.

Shuri has this youthful
exuberance about STEM,

science, technology,
engineering and math,

and how she uses STEM
to support the country.

She is intelligent
beyond her years.

Look at your suit.

You've been taking b*ll*ts,
charging it up with kinetic energy.

WRIGHT: Yes, she's strong.

I'm going as fast as I can!

Yes, she can be powerful.

(BOTH GRUNTING)

Just because of her age,

people can easily
underestimate her.

(GRUNTS)

But she has this
lack of limitation.

There's no ceilings on Shuri.

In its raw form,

Vibranium is too dangerous to
be transported at that speed.

BASSETT: Shuri's
young, but she's gifted

and she's passionate about being
this science head, this geek.

GURIRA: Shuri's just knocking down
all those stereotypes of, like,

oh, if a girl's good at
sciences, she's not cool.

Strike it.

Not that hard, genius!

A lot of the technology that
Shuri is responsible for

is all about the
evolution of tradition

in a way that it is
evolved in technology.

SHURI: The entire suit sits
within the teeth of the necklace.

Everything comes from Shuri.

When I play Ayo, everything
that protects me,

the weapons that I use,
the Dora Milaje uniform,

all starts in her lab.

The first time that
Ayo is introduced

was in Captain
America: Civil w*r.

I remember when the movie came
out, and people came and said,

"Are you the woman
in the movie?"

Move. Or you will be moved.

And I said, like, "Yes," but I
didn't really know what it meant.

Now it's different.

(CHUCKLES)

SARAH HALLEY FINN:
Florence is amazing.

She had gotten a
very small part.

She had so much presence
onscreen in just a few lines

that gave us the inspiration

to then bring her into a
bigger world and a bigger role.

Ayo, the king!

(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

KASUMBA: Ayo is someone
that, when she grew up...

(GRUNTS)

wanted to become a Dora Milaje.

You have to make a specific
choice to join them.

You don't get born into the
sisterhood. You have to work for it.

But growing up myself,

I wasn't used to seeing
women protecting men.

And in Wakanda, that
is just such a given.

You can become everything
that you want to become.

(GRUNTING)

But this is a concept that is
very foreign to a lot of people

because sometimes,
if it's not there,

you can't imagine it.

I was born in Uganda,

but grew up in Germany.

Back then, we didn't have
that many Black actresses,

and I noticed after
a certain age that

I missed people that I could see
on the screen that look like me.

But then I went to the theater and
I saw people that looked like me

and I thought, like,
"That's what I want to do."

(PEOPLE APPLAUDING)

So that's the reason why
I became a performer.

(PEOPLE CHEERING, APPLAUDING)

I studied singing,
acting and dancing.

And at some point, I transitioned
from dancing, learning martial arts.

My mom taught me
from an early age

that you have to
stay who you are.

It doesn't matter what people
try to tell you who you are.

I wouldn't be here,
doing what I'm doing now,

if she would have restricted me.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

My mom was a nurse...

(EKG BEEPING, FLATLINING)

and she worked in
the emergency room,

so she had to deal
with death a lot.

And from an early age on,
she would always talk about,

"Today, somebody died at work."

And because of that,

it was always normal for us
that people go and that's okay.

(SIREN WAILING)

She taught me,
"Instead of focusing

"that the person
isn't there anymore,

"focus on what the
person has achieved."

And that is something I am so
grateful that she taught me

because that is so in
me that I don't break.

The minute somebody gives you
the freedom to do something

and you notice how
great you can become,

you want to achieve more,
you want to give more.

And this is just like Ayo.

She can put herself aside, doesn't
need to be in the foreground,

but when she has
to lead a mission,

she's able to go out
and get the job done.

Florence's character
and the Dora altogether

are a beautiful metaphor

for the women behind
the scenes on this film.

It was amazing.

I had never been on a set

with more women in
positions of power.

Get back in the path

like we did earlier this
morning for our first shot.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

MOORE: The film is about
a lot of female characters

and we would not have been
doing the film any favors

by not opening ourselves up to

very talented
female crew members.

There's no reason for
it to be a boy's club,

and I think Black Panther
kind of proves that.

FINN: The director,
Ryan Coogler, always had

this vision of strong
women behind the scenes.

We were telling a story for a
diverse world of men and women.

And so, in order to do that, we
need all those voices at the table.

WOMAN: Remember, no matter what,
block off when we call cut.

CARTER: Ryan's
compassion is infectious

and we want to rally around
him and support his ideas.

So, women tend to do that.

BEACHLER: We're
like Ryan's Dora.

We're here to
protect the vision.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

It's quite empowering to have
a lot of women around you.

There's a sense of
nurturing of the story

because we're able to give emotionally
in a lot of different ways.

(PEOPLE LAUGHING)

And I think that that just enhances
what you're seeing onscreen.

COOGLER: Hannah Beachler was
kinda like our major workhorse

in researching Wakanda.

You see it in the architecture and
the production design of, of the sets.

WOMAN: And action!

- Come home, Nakia.
- I'm right here.

Stay.

NYONG'O: The first few times I
walked onto the set of Black Panther,

I just remember
getting goosebumps

because it represented what
was so beautiful about Africa.

Everything just
seemed so purposeful.

And I think that kind of detail is
what made this movie quite special.

GURIRA: There are times that
I'd come on set and I'd be like,

"Oh, God. You don't understand.
This is gonna be amazing."

Like, you just see, like,
you know, Hannah's set.

BEACHLER: As the
production designer,

I wanted to bring a
different light to

what had previously been
called the Dark Continent

for so many decades.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

My father was an architect

and taught me early on

that you really need
to understand the land

before you can put
a building on it.

So I applied that
gem to Wakanda.

We travelled to South Africa

for research.

We were pretty much all over the
Sentinel Mountains and Lesotho.

Dug into the geography,

the people, the traditions.

(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)

And that's where I
became inspired by

an idea of a society
that's based in

tradition, community,
family and ritual.

I created this 500-page bible, the
"Wakandan Bible," as we call it.

It tells us what
their timeline is,

from the Bronze Age
to the current day,

comparing Wakanda's evolution
with the rest of the world.

A map of the country and of
their capital, Golden City,

their traditions, religion.

What was their trade?
What was their economy?

What do they eat?

What is their language?

(RITUAL MUSIC PLAYING)

(SPEAKING XHOSA)

Dora Milaje!

The language that they
speak in Wakanda is Xhosa,

which is a language
of South Africa.

(SPEAKING IN XHOSA)

I was born and raised
in Johannesburg,

so this film was really,
really important to me.

I basically referred to
it as "my soul movie."

(RITUAL MUSIC PLAYING)

My friends in South Africa said,
when they started speaking Xhosa,

there were gasps in the theater.

People couldn't believe, like,
"Our language is on the screen,"

and that meant something to people,
to, to, to feel, like, seen that way.

I absolutely worshipped

every single one of the female
characters in this film,

and I looked at every single scene in
Black Panther from the perspective of

"Is it being true to them?"

And he goes there.

BERMAN: And so I went to
Ryan about the ending scene

where the Dora Milaje are
surrounded by the Border Tribe.

As it was originally shot,

the Jabari male warriors
come and rescue them.

And I said, "I
feel that undercuts

"so much of what we spent
the entire film building up."

And he agreed with me
and he worked miracles to

create a new character called
the female Jabari warrior.

And they went into
additional photography,

got a new shot,

and now, the very
first person to

power through the force field
and save the Dora Milaje

is a female Jabari warrior.

- (MAN GRUNTS)
- (ROARS)

And it served our ladies right.

(BELLOWING)

(WARRIORS GRUNTING)

CARTER: The Indigenous tribes
of Wakanda were inspired by

several different
real tribes of Africa.

(DRUMS BEATING)

As the costume designer,

I approach my work from

the point of view of
responsibility to the culture.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

And people need to
see that more in film.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

Ruth is just absolutely
bar none brilliant.

I know so much more
who I am as Ramonda

when I put the costumes on.

The jewelry, the
headdress, the embroidery.

Ruth wanted to do it right, so she would
talk to people on the continent about

the processes by which
they make their clothing...

(DRUMS BEATING)

and integrate them
into her costumes.

Like the Dora Milaje
with their arm rings,

their neck rings that come from

the Ndebele people
of South Africa.

The Lesotho blankets that
we made into shields.

Those pieces retrained the eye

to a new form of beauty
and appreciation.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

GURIRA: This movie
got to celebrate

a ton of different cultures
from across the continent.

KASUMBA: The African country and
African women are so well represented.

They have tattoos
and they have scars,

and they have lots
of hair, braids,

and even have no hair.

GURIRA: For the Dora Milaje, some
of us didn't have hair, anyway,

but it was really
just this idea that

"What's your definition of
femininity? 'Cause this is mine."

You know what I mean?
And I'm good with this.

Bast willing, this
will go quickly

and I can get this
ridiculous thing off my head.

The idea of "I don't wanna
wear hair on my head.

"This is ridiculous."

(GRUNTING)

I found so much enjoyment in it

and freedom in it,
and power in it.

And then we were deciding
what tattoo to put on.

I had a lot of tattoos on,
on my head for about a week.

And then it was like, "Oh, my
God. It's her fighter helmet.

"Forget it. This is it."

I want my tattoo. I
want my bald head.

CAMILLE FRIEND: It's a
strong, bold statement.

It's just, it's power
and strength in the look.

FINN: With this film,

we're able to see women
owning their power.

Drop your weapon!

And I think that's
very inspiring.

Wakanda forever!

We're excited because somebody
that looks like me is a superhero.

I've never gone to a theater
to see a film like this before,

so I just really
needed to go all out.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(DRUMS BEATING)

CARTER: You saw those people
in the movie theaters, like,

celebrating and dancing.

(SINGING)

CARTER: People saw
themselves onscreen.

People wanted to rejoice.
We were so ready for it.

BERMAN: Hearing about
people feeling inspired,

going to the theater and just seeing
every single viewing for hours and hours,

it was just so magical.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

It touched me and made me feel
very purposeful as an actor.

KASUMBA: Seeing what we
made was overwhelming

because it connected people.

We are coming from these different
places, but we're still one.

ZOE SALDANA: Think about how
impactful that was, not just for us,

people that belong to our
respective communities of color.

But even women that don't,

and never even realized
that something like that

had never been given to us.

Yay! (LAUGHS)

SALDANA: We were never told
that this could be possible.

(PEOPLE LAUGHING FAINTLY)

NYONG'O: Why do we
need Black superheroes?

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

Why not?

I mean, it's a no-brainer.

There's Black
people in this world

and there's room
in our imaginations

to imagine ourselves
as superheroes.

We don't even begin to know

the level of what these
films can do for children.

My name is Vianna Robbins
and I'm 11 years old.

My name's Amel Robbins
and I am ten years old.

My name is Darian Robbins.

I'm an environmental
project engineer with NASA.

Being an engineer myself, I was
really impressed with Shuri.

Yes!

When you go into her lab

and seeing all the
stuff she's working on.

Just the breadth of her knowledge,
I mean, that just blew my mind.

The experience for my family,
and particularly my daughters,

with seeing Black Panther,

it was something that
they'd never seen before,

you know, powerful representation
of, of women onscreen.

What my daughters loved
most about the film,

was the women taking control,
and being in command,

and just doing
adventurous stuff.

AMEL: Daddy!

(DARIAN CHUCKLES)

- Okay.
- Are you sick?

My girls are very
adventurous themselves.

They dance,

do tae kwon do.

(BOTH GRUNT)

They ride bikes.

They have a zest for life.

(CHEERING)

High knees.

Good.

My favorite character from
Black Panther is Okoye.

I like how Okoye fights for
whoever sits on the throne,

no matter who sits on it.

She's like a warrior
whenever, wherever.

(GRUNTS)

And she'll get the job done.

Y'all stick together like
the Dora Milaje, right?

You'll come together like a
family to protect one another.

That makes my heart full.

I like when Shuri's in the
lab with the other woman,

working on technology
for Wakanda.

My favorite character is Nakia.

I like how she fights for
people outside of her country

to help those who
are struggling.

I think it's also
inspiring to other people

to see women superheroes

because they might not
believe they can do something.

But they watch Black Panther

and all of a sudden, they
believe they can do it.

They start reaching
for their goal.

(GRUNTS)

(BOTH GRUNTING)

SALDANA: We're living in a time
where we're all recognizing

that these stories need
to be told about women,

a wonderful and rich universe...

(SCREAMING)

filled with female heroes.

(CROWD CHEERING)

BEACHLER: But there's
still a lot of work to do.

Even though people are always
saying after the Oscars,

"This isn't a game changer."

(CROWD CHEERING)

MALE ANNOUNCER: Ruth Carter is
the first African American woman

to win an Oscar for
Best Costume Design.

And Hannah Beachler is
the first Black woman

to be nominated and win
for Best Production Design.

People said, "Oh, you
broke the glass ceiling."

(GLASS BREAKING)

But I'm not interested
in the glass ceiling.

I'm interested in
the brick wall.

Because if I take
down the brick wall,

I bring down the building.

So we can redesign it.

And that's the only
way to go forward.

Black Panther was
not just a movie.

It changed lives.

It changed how people
thought about themselves.

(PEOPLE LAUGHING)

Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

(PEOPLE SHOUTING,
CHEERING) Wakanda forever!

GURIRA: I had no anticipation

of the impact that it would
have on people of the diaspora

to just celebrate ourselves and
who we are, what our heritage is.

(PEOPLE CHEERING)

KASUMBA: It's important to be
able to recognize yourself.

And with this movie,

a lot of people could
watch it and think,

"Wow. People that look
like me are presented

"and we can be
superheroes, too."

Wakanda forever!

- (BOTH LAUGHING)
- (PEOPLE CHEERING)

I love it.

The evolution that needs
to come has to come

from the understanding
that we have to step into

what we haven't seen before

because a lot of the old
models are based in exclusion.

And then in Wakanda Forever,

we see the representation
of female characters

in so many more different ways.

BASSETT: It's the continuation of
the strength of the female warrior.

Her voice is strong
and unsilent.

RAMONDA: I am Queen of the most
powerful nation in the world!

It's a beautiful thing to see.

NYONG'O: Why are superheroes
so popular in this world?

I think it's
because they possess

powers and perspectives
that we aspire to.

And everybody deserves to
exist in imaginative spaces.

(MUSIC PLAYING)