Although the MCU’s sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is being well received by reviewers and fans alike, it is likely to be banned in at least one of the main markets due to its inclusion of LGBTQ+ identities. Currently, only 34 foreign films are approved for theatrical release in China each year by the China Movie Administration, and all films must be screened for the government-appointed board before they can be shown in cinemas in China.

The board may be picky about everything, from the use of magic in media to the wearing of a Taiwan patch on one’s sleeve. Since any allusions to homosexuality are outlawed in the country, it is not rare for movies to alter their content to placate the boards. The most recent, the MCU’s, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is included in this climactic section. Without giving you any spoilers, here’s what the report is all about.

Is China’s really banning Wakanda Forever?

The first Black Panther movie grossed $105 million during its release in 2018. When Beijing authorities decide against approving a foreign film for release in the city’s cinemas, the film’s studio and the city’s fans are left to wait, speculate, and hope. However, The Hollywood Reporter has learned from many sources inside the Chinese film business that the MCU’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever does not have a strong possibility of being greenlit at this time.

Some in Beijing’s film business, according to THR’s reporting, have come to accept the idea that somehow an effective ban on Marvel entities has been enacted. The conspicuous display of the Statue of Liberty in Spider-Man: No Way Home was seen as a too strong emblem of American political principles by Chinese authorities,

Meanwhile in the case of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals, it was Simu Liu and Chloe Zhao’s year-old interview statements that looked to denigrate China. Hollywood has a history of removing gay characters from films in order to placate Chinese censors, resulting in increased box office receipts of several million dollars.

To placate censors in foreign regions, Disney no longer claims to delete LGBTQ+ material. Meanwhile the studio refused to remove a “gay scene” from the live-action Beauty and the Beast in 2017 despite pressure from Malaysian content censors. Preliminary tracking indicates a domestic opening of $175 million or more for Wakanda Forever, so it should do fine at the box office without China.