* Medium-sized stars like our Sun will eventually become white dwarfs. These are incredibly dense, hot remnants of the star's core. They continue to cool down over billions of years, eventually becoming black dwarfs.

* Larger stars (much more massive than our Sun) go through a much more dramatic process. They explode in a supernova. The core of the star collapses under its own gravity, forming either a neutron star (a super dense object made of neutrons) or, if the star is massive enough, a black hole.

Here's the key difference:

* Black dwarfs are the *end state* of a white dwarf, which is the end state of a medium-sized star.

* Black holes are the end state of a massive star after it explodes as a supernova.

So, it's not that a larger star becomes a black hole *after* it explodes, but that the explosion *itself* can lead to the formation of a black hole.