‘Black Panther’ Mid-Credits Scene Was Hit Film’s Original Ending, Director Says

Warning: Beware of spoilerss!

If you saw “Black Panther” this weekend, you probably stayed for the mid-credits scene — showing T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) addressing the United Nations and declaring Wakanda’s intent to, for the first time, work with other countries in order to make the world a better place.

Well, director Ryan Coogler said, it was the hit Marvel movie’s original ending. At the end of T’Challa’s U.N. address, some smarmy white guy pompously asks how a nation of farmers is going to be able to contribute anything meaningful. At which point all the Wakandans in the room smile wryly.

During an interview with The Empire Film Podcast, Coogler explained why he shifted the film’s final scene back to Oakland, California: “It was [almost the ending]. We played with a lot of different ways to end it. We went back and forth about the U.N., and we had a version where it was the U.N. before the scenes in Oakland at the end. But we really kind of settled on how do we want the movie to end? And it came back to that symmetry, and it came back to the most moving version of it. That’s what we were asking ourselves, ‘Who’s more moved emotionally, that kid or the people sitting in the U.N.?’ Who is that a bigger deal to for T’Challa to walk in, who’s more connected to him?”

Also Read: 'Black Panther' Will Hit $1 Billion at the Box Office - The Only Question Is When

“Black Panther” now has the second biggest four-day opening in box office history, making $40.1 million on President’s Day Monday to bring its domestic launch to $242 million. That’s just a step higher than the $241.5 million made by “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” this past December, and second only to the $288 million made by “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in 2015.

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