During a phone interview, I talked to Black Panther co-writer Joe Robert Cole about the deleted scene and how it suggested a gay relationship between Ayo and Okoye.
Last year, Black Panther fans were thrilled to learn that the T’Challa’s solo movie may introduce Marvel’s first on-screen gay relationship, and first explicitly gay characters.
In the rough cut of this Black Panther scene, we see Gurira’s Okoye and Kasumba’s Ayo swaying rhythmically back in formation with the rest of their team.
But Marvel quickly shot the possibility of the romance down, claiming the comic wasn’t used as a source for the film.