A Marvel executive debated over one of those painful Avengers: Infinity War deaths. While he lost the battle, it turns out there’s a good reason for the death.
If you’ve seen Avengers: Infinity War, then you know that there were a number of deaths that have rocked the Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you haven’t seen the movie (and what are you waiting for), I suggest coming back after you have, because we are about to break into spoiler territory.
While all of the deaths were shocking and devastating in their own way (cue the tears for Peter Parker and Bucky Barnes), one death in particular is actually a bit surprising. The Russo brothers chose to kill off the king of Wakanda, the Black Panther himself.
With how well received the Black Panther movie was, and how popular the character has become since his arrival in Captain America: Civil War, it seems especially jarring and shocking to see T’Challa/the Black Panther turned to dust at the end of Avengers: Infinity War.
It turns out, this death was one that has been planned for quite some time, even if one Marvel executive tried to stop it from happening, according to the Huffington Post. Nate Moore, who is a Marvel Studios production and development executive, revealed that he has known about the fate of the Black Panther since as early as 2015.
However, Nate Moore isn’t just a Marvel executive, he was also a producer on Black Panther. So of course he was a bit more invested in these characters and their fates. While speaking to HuffPost, he explained that even back then he was rather confused by the decision to turn T’Challa into a pile of dust, and that was before the character’s solo film did so well.
In fact, Nate Moore said he tried to convince the Russo brothers that they should hold off on reducing the king of Wakanda into dirt, but apparently it made sense to the story. Even with the Black Panther and so many others being killed off, fans of the character’s solo movie at least had the opportunity to revisit Wakanda and see more of the country’s beauty and technology.
Of course, it would have been better if the Avengers hadn’t been essentially decimated by the Infinity Guantlet, even if that is part of the comics and makes sense to the story. At the same time, while there were a lot of losses in Avengers: Infinity War, it certainly sets up quite a bit of drama and expectation for the fourth movie.
While Nate Moore did not get into detail about the Russo brothers’ reasoning for killing off the Black Panther, he did say that not only was their argument rather compelling, but once they explained things to him he understood that, “it made for a really interesting, almost more complicated ending to that film.”
Knowing that each of the characters who died was killed off for a reason makes it that much more interesting to see where the story goes from here. It brings up questions as to who might remain dead and who could come back, and even why they needed to die to begin with.
Even with an explanation of why he had to die, Moore said it was still painful to see Black Panther being reduced to dust. And we agree! Seeing any of our favorite heroes crumbling away before our eyes was devastating.
Although there is no guarantee that all of our heroes will return in the fourth Avengers film, there is still hope, especially with sequels in the works for characters like Spider-Man and Black Panther. Even still, there is a precedent for other characters to take on the duties of these roles, including having T’Challa’s sister, Shuri, taking over as the new Black Panther.
Related Story: Sebastian Stan was also pretty confused about the fate of Bucky Barnes
While we will have to wait another year to find out the true fate of all of our favorite heroes (and even a villain or two), we can still mourn the losses and hope that somehow there is a chance for a do-over. Perhaps T’Challa isn’t really gone for good. And with a sequel in the works, we can believe that he will in fact return, in some way, so that he can once more lead his people.