The following contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, now playing in theaters.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which features a short scene in which Michaela Coel's Aneka and Florence Kasumba's Ayo share a brief romantic moment, is now playing in theaters unedited across the world -- including many countries notorious for censoring LGBTQ+ content.
The latest MCU blockbuster does not include extensive representations of LGBTQ+ relationships, but the fleeting exchange between the two members of the Dora Milaje was still cut for the Kuwait release, per The Hollywood Reporter. In the Gulf region, Kuwait, specifically, is quite harsh in its elimination of all intimate scenes. In 2018's Black Panther, a kiss between Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa and Nakia, played by Lupita Nyong'O, was removed in order to adhere to the country's standards. However, Kuwait is currently the only Gulf territory that has requested certain scenes be disallowed, despite the region's overall crackdown on references to LGBTQ+ characters and issues in films.
A request to take out the 10-second scene was included in edits made to the film - totaling just over one minute - to meet Kuwait's strict regulation of intimacy. Along with Aneka's blink-and-you-miss-it kiss on Ayo's forehead and Ayo's "Thank you, my love" in response, a scene where a woman gives birth to a child, and the line "A god to his people" in reference to Tenoch Huerta's Namor, have also been axed by censors for the film's release.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be released uncensored in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain and Qatar. Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. are currently the two largest audience markets in the region, with Kuwait in third. Marvel has had three of its most recent films - Thor: Love and Thunder, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, and Eternals - denied a theatrical release in Saudi Arabia over the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters and relationships.
Bringing LGBTQ+ Representation to Wakanda
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever introduces Emmy-Award-Winning screenwriter and actress Michaela Coel, best known for I May Destroy You, as Aneka, a member of Wakanda's all-female special forces, the Dora Milaje. Aneka joins Danai Guirira's Okoye and Florence Kasumba's Ayo, who have both shown up in multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe projects since they were introduced in 2018. Though not Marvel's only representation of LGBTQ+ characters -- which notably include Eternals' Phastos and Thor's Valkyrie and Loki -- and relationships, Aneka and Ayo are the first characters in Wakanda in a same-sex relationship.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now playing in theaters.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter