Last weekend’s trailer release of ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, the highly anticipated sequel to ‘Black Panther’, has been watched millions of times and, as expected, fans expressed their love for actor Angela Bassett, director Ryan Coogler and the late Chadwick Boseman, who played King T’Challa, the Black Panther, in the first film. But the excitement also led to expressions of love for Tenoch Huerta and Mabel Cadena, who will play Namor and Namora in the new movie. Both Huerta and Cadena were born in Mexico (as is Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o, who returns as Nakia), and the trailer made it clear to anyone paying attention that the “Black Panther” franchise ” went all out on inclusivity.
The trailer made it clear that the “Black Panther” franchise has banked on inclusivity.
Credit those who made “Black Panther” a global phenomenon for realizing that if you’re going to create a movie franchise that will endure for generations, giving a new space to Latino and Latino characters is a stroke of genius. The move illustrates how the alliance between two historically marginalized groups in Hollywood, blacks and Latinos, can take the industry to new heights.
At San Diego Comic Con, where the trailer debuted, Huerta told an audience, “I’m excited and so happy to be here, it’s an honor. And I want to say something. very quick on inclusion. I’m from the Hood, seriously. And because of inclusion, I’m here. I wouldn’t be here without inclusion. A lot of kids in their hoods are looking at us, dreaming of being here, and they’ll get there! They’ll get there.”
He then thanked “all Latin Americans,” especially those who left their homelands to find hope in the United States. It was a moment of pure joy that resonated with many, including an actor who tweeted“As a darker-skinned Mexican-American actor and child of indigenous parents, I have experienced firsthand the colorism inflicted on Latin Americans in entertainment. As such, I cannot describe the joy to recognize the magnificent and talented @TenochHuerta in the #WakandaForever trailer. Indeed, the trailer release was also a moment of pure joy for the possibilities of what the characters of Mesoamerican descent would mean to audiences.
For that, those behind the “Blank Panther” franchise should be seen not only as groundbreaking, but as smart and savvy for their awareness that being inclusive also makes good business. For years, Latinos have been identified as the largest group of moviegoers in the country, but such box office buying power has led to no real increase in roles and representation. The addition of Huerta and Cadena to the cast of “Wakanda Forever” confirms that the “Black Panther” franchise is leading the way in cementing a new, less white Hollywood.
Before and after “Black Panther” hit screens in 2018, some prominent Latino and Latino actors missed the chance to celebrate what Hollywood could become if they rallied around efforts to transform the film industry. Instead, they questioned the absence of Latinos.
“Marvel and DC kill it in inclusion and women, but where are the Latinos?!, ask a friend…”, actress Gina Rodriguez tweeted in 2017 during the promotional campaign for “Black Panther”, sparking a backlash she might still feel today. In 2020, actor John Leguizamo, who has made other problematic comments about Latinos and black people in Hollywood, dreamed of “a Latin superhero movie like Black Panther was for African Americans”.
Latino representation is still lacking in the entertainment industry, but that’s not the fault of black filmmakers and directors.
There’s no doubt that Latino representation is still lacking in the entertainment industry, but that’s not the fault of black filmmakers and directors. Hollywood, the overwhelming majority of which is white, does a pretty good job of not taking Latinos seriously, and as long as we continue to have remakes of tired stereotypes or re-releases of 1990s films, there will be little progress.
Comments like those of Rodriguez and Leguizamo have the effect of undermining the accomplishments of black people telling black stories to audiences around the world. These comments also ignore the fact that nearly 6 million American adults identify as Afro-Latino or that 5% of the black American population identifies as Afro-Latino. These Afro-Latinos understand what Leguizamo doesn’t, that a black superhero movie doesn’t necessarily leave Latino moviegoers feeling left out.
Here are more examples of inclusion and intersectionality, whether in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” or “Judas and the Black Messiah,” which featured young Puerto Rican lords. Despite race issues that some Latinos still don’t fully understand, the alliance in Hollywood is to be commended and elevated.
Anyone who cares deeply about representation and its power to change narratives should support franchises like “Black Panther,” especially when the people behind that franchise know that the franchise can lead the way in pushing for real change. So, Wakanda forever. Because while no artwork is perfect and there will always be detractors, once inclusivity becomes the next wave of box office success, Hollywood will never look back.