(SPOT.ph) In a move that shocked the world—surprising those who were already expecting a whole slate of movies to be announced—Marvel Studios revealed over the weekend not just their plans for Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Phase Six as well; all-in-all forming their new "Multiverse Saga" that'll culminate with both Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2025.
While the Internet was definitely jazzed thanks to the fact that two whole Avengers films were dropping in one year, word of mouth surrounding Marvel's big presentation was predominantly owned by the release of the heartbreakingly gorgeous first trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Among many new elements featured in the sequel—including the arrival of Namor the Submariner (Tenoch Huerta) and the introduction of Ironheart (Dominique Thorne)—the trailer also confirmed the in-universe death of T'Challa, following the passing of actor Chadwick Boseman in 2020.
Boseman's absence from the picture set the melancholic tone for the teaser. As we see shots of a Wakanda in mourning, an underwater nation gearing up for war, and a throne room set on fire, set to Tems' remix of Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" and Kendrick Lamar's "Alright," we get the sense that our heroes will face great tragedy in the sequel but find the strength and sense of community in order to rise above it all.
It's a beautiful teaser trailer that almost acts as a tone poem for the rest of the film. And we have Filipino-American cinematographer Autumn Durald to thank for bringing this artistry (i.e. all the feels) to life.
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Meet Autumn Durald, the Fil-Am Cinematographer Behind Black Panther: Wakanda Forever:
Autumn Durald serves as cinematographer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. They were given a shoutout by the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, a non-profit based in the U.S., when the stunning teaser dropped. Prior to hopping on this big-budget superhero spectacle, Durald was primarily known for Gia Coppola films like Palo Alto (starring Emma Roberts) and Mainstream (starring Andrew Garfield), as well as the teen drama The Sun Is Also a Star.
Durald reportedly grew up in the San Francisco bay area and graduated from the American Film Institute. However, in an interview with CNET for The Sun Is Also a Star, the film's lead Charles Melton mentioned that Durald is Filipino, which helped bring to the screen the true Asian-American experience of New York in that film.
Durald also previously served as cinematographer for all six episodes of the first season of Loki on Disney+. The Marvel presentation over the weekend also confirmed that that series, which opened up the MCU to the Multiverse as we've seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, will be releasing its second season in the summer of 2023. However, Isaac Bauman will serve as cinematographer for the sophomore season.
Black Panther director Ryan Coogler is notable for only working with female cinematographers throughout his whole career. Rachel Morrison served as cinematographer for the first Black Panther and Coogler's debut feature Fruitvale Station, while Maryse Alberti was the cinematographer for his Rocky sequel Creed.
After Morrison, Durald is only the second woman to work as a cinematographer on an MCU feature film. She is also the second person of Filipino descent to serve as cinematographer on an MCU film, after Filipino-American cinematographer Matthew Libatique helped kick off the MCU with Iron Man in 2008 and Iron Man 2 in 2010.
The "About section" on Durald's official site reads:
"Autumn Durald grew up in the Bay Area. She attended Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History. She went on to receive her Masters of Fine Arts at the American Film Institute in Cinematography in 2009."
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