Black Panther Scenes You Didn't See

It isn't unusual nowadays for a big-screen blockbuster to run for longer than two hours. 2017's highest grossing film, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, even topped the two-and-a-half hour mark, while co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo have hinted that Avengers: Infinity War, which will likely be 2018's biggest film, could top that mark as well. 

Even with extended runtimes becoming the norm, though, filmmakers still aren't given free rein to include every scene they may envision for the final product. Scenes end up on the cutting room floor of every blockbuster — and others are scrapped before they're even filmed. 

While the final product is often all the better for the cuts, it's always interesting for fans to hear about what might have been. In the case of Black Panther, the movie that took over the box office with an astronomical $235 million debut weekend, most fans certainly had no complaints regarding the theatrical cut, which had a 134-minute runtime. Still, we might have gotten even more — here are the Black Panther scenes you didn't see.

Director and co-writer Ryan Coogler said the movie constantly changed throughout filming, ultimately resulting in the loss of some potentially important moments. One such moment would have given viewers a better glimpse at Wakanda through the eyes of T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) as the pair went for a run.

"I was so in love with Wakanda, I wanted to explore it more," Coogler told Digital Spy. In addition to revealing more of the secretive nation, the scene would have also introduced some important new characters — Nakia's parents, who the pair would have met at her childhood home at the end of their journey. "It was kinda, think of it as a Rocky-style jog or a Muhammad Ali When We Were Kings-style jog," Coogler explained. 

However, the scene had to be cut early on due to budgetary constraints. Coogler said he was ultimately okay with the fact that they never got to shoot the scene, considering the fact that it likely would have been cut for time anyway. Still, it's sad to hear that viewers won't have a chance to get this extra glimpse of Wakanda in any DVD extras. There's always the sequel, though.

Black Panther has been hailed for its representation of minority characters, but one cut scene has caused controversy among some communities. The scene reportedly featured Danai Gurira's Okoye flirting with Florence Kasumba's Ayo, another member of the Dora Milaje.

Vanity Fair first called attention to the scene in April of 2017, when writer Joanna Robinson said she'd seen a cut of a scene in which the Dora Milaje were dancing together. In the scene, Okoye reportedly looked flirtatiously at Ayo, then telling her, "You look good." When Ayo told her the same thing, Okoye smiled and said, "I know." 

Many were hopeful that the scene was an indication that the movie would feature the LGBT storyline from the comic World of Wakanda, but Marvel later crushed those hopes by saying World of Wakanda wasn't used as source material for the film. Instead, Gurira's Okoye is depicted in a relationship with Daniel Kaluuya's W'Kabi.

Black Panther co-writer Joe Robert Cole was vague in an interview when asked about the potential storyline, saying he didn't remember the scene in question but adding that there were "a few conversations around different things, different directions with different characters, and characters that we may have."

Kasumba later spoke out on the matter, seeming to say that the scene had existed. "The final result that we've seen, there were a few scenes that have been cut," she said. "Different scenes, also. They didn't make it into the movie for certain reasons, and at that point, I have to say: What their reason is, I can't tell you, because nobody told me about whether it's in or not."

According to Black Panther producer Nate Moore, Coogler fought hard to keep one scene featuring Gurira's Okoye and Daniel Kaluuya's W'Kabi in the film, but ultimately decided to drop it. The scene would have taken place shortly after Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) took over the throne of Wakanda, featuring the pair discussing the pros and cons of aligning with Killmonger over T'Challa. 

"You hear both characters articulate their point of view as to why they should or shouldn't follow this man and it's one of the most well-acted scenes I've ever been a part of," Moore explained. "Unfortunately it occurred at a point in the movie where audiences just wanted to get to the resolution and so it slowed down a part of the movie and we were afraid audiences were checking out."