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Black Panther Deleted Scene Features Tense Moment Between Okoye And W'Kabi

Danai Gurira as Okoye in Black Panther
By AJ Caulfield

This is more than just a lovers' spat. 

Ahead of Black Panther's digital, Blu-ray, and DVD release later this month, Marvel has unveiled a deleted scene included as a special feature in the home video version of the film. The clipped moment in question isn't an extended bit of battle across the lush Wakandan landscape, nor is it an extra glimpse at Shuri's (Letitia Wright) incredibly technologically advanced creations. No, the 90-second scene is more intense than that: It's a sequence centered on Okoye (Danai Gurira) and W'Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), who are married.

Released exclusively to USA Today (via Twitter), the scene confirms what was only ever teased on screen in Black Panther: W'Kabi and Okoye are husband and wife, making the disagreements they had after T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) was deposed and later presumed dead after Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) rocked up to Wakanda and staked his claim on the throne all the more impassioned. 

In the scene, the two are seen fighting over what their next moves should be, with W'Kabi expressing his anger over the failed extradition of Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) and Okoye firing back that W'Kabi genuinely wanted T'Challa to lose the challenge against Killmonger. 

"Was T'Challa your friend? You didn't seem to have a problem when he was thrown from the falls," Okoye asks him. "You wanted him to lose!"

"He was not fit to lead. T'Challa told me, to my face, right here, that he would bring Klaue back. Did he do it?" answers W'Kabi. "Klaue stole from us! He murdered my mother and father. Thirty years, there's been no justice, and T'Challa swore to bring him back — not take him to the U.N., not take him to the C.I.A., but bring him here to us."

What comes after the heated argument is Okoye's mention of children, whom she believes W'Kabi wants to become conquerers. W'Kabi, on the other hand, knows that their potential offspring will be "leaders of a truly free world, not just a tiny country where we have to hide everything that makes us great." Tensions settle right after that, when W'Kabi relents and gives Okoye a kiss on the forehead. (Cue the "aww"s.)

Check it out below.

Black Panther director Ryan Coogler explained that he was "incredibly proud" of this moment between Okoyoe and W'Kabi, but that it simply didn't work within the film, despite being a wonderfully acted scene that adds depth to both characters — W'Kabi in particular, who sat on the periphery for most of the movie. 

Perhaps Black Panther 2 will explore W'Kabi and Okoye's relationship more? We'll just have to wait and see. 

Black Panther will hit digital stores on May 8, and is set for a Blu-ray and DVD release on May 15.

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