*Wakanda Forever spoilers.*
Hail to the queen! Given that Angela Bassett has been the actor to finally break the MCU into the acting categories during awards season, not just getting nominated but winning both a Golden Globe and a Critic’s Choice Award in recent days, it’s only fitting that we give it up for this strong, regal character. (Side note: while I’m happy to see both Bassett and the MCU recognized in this way, it’s still a little bittersweet for me, because I really wanted Tony Leung Chiu-wai to be the first one to break in. But that’s entirely about me and has nothing to do with Bassett’s well-deserved recognition.)
A lot of Marvel characters have been marked by loss, but Ramonda in particular has grieved for a lot. We first meet her as she’s mourning the sudden and tragic death of her husband. Despite her heartbreak, however, she loves and supports T’Challa as he rises to the throne, offering both maternal encouragement and practical council.
She keeps her head held high in her sorrow, but grief isn’t done with her yet. When Killmonger throws T’Challa off Warrior Falls, Ramonda’s scream is visceral and heartrending. Discovering that he’s still clinging to life, she takes immediate action to save her son. Then comes the Blip, where T’Challa and Shuri are both among the countless lives dissolving into dust after Thanos’s Snap. Five long years where she’s the only living member of her family, ruling Wakanda alone because her children are gone. When they’re returned to her, her happiness is short-lived—all too soon, T’Challa succumbs to an illness that even the technologically-advanced Wakanda cannot heal.
Once again, Ramonda ascends a throne she does not want, power thrust into her hands after her son is torn out of them. These compounding griefs weigh heavily on her, but still she does what is asked of her. Still she serves Wakanda as its queen, as the nation’s mother. She’s ferocious in dealing with the UN’s expectations of Wakanda, which has only recently revealed the extent of its technological riches to the world. She’s calculated in addressing the highly fraught situation with Namor, who threatens Wakanda if she won’t meet his demands. She’s gentle and loving in her handling of Shuri, who’s thrown herself deep into work and hasn’t let herself truly feel T’Challa’s death. And even at the end, when Namor and Talokan’s warriors attack Wakanda and Ramonda is placed in mortal peril, she stands in front of Riri to try and shield her from harm.
A character who leaves us too soon, Ramonda is chiefly characterized by her strength amid the losses she’s suffered. She won’t put up with colonizers’ foolishness and greed, and she keeps pressing ahead as everyone she loves is taken from her. But threaded in with her heartbreak and badassery, we don’t just see someone who carries on in order to support others. Ramonda’s portrayal flirts with the notion of the Strong Black Woman who forges ahead with the world on her shoulders, but she’s also allowed to feel her grief, to rage over all that she’s lost. I appreciate that—it keeps her from feeling too flat, too in service of T’Challa and Shuri’s stories.
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