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1'''As a Headscratchers subpage, all spoilers are unmarked [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff as per policy.]] Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''
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4[[foldercontrol]]
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6[[folder: Sokovia Accords]]
7* If Wakanda was known to the world as an isolationist 3rd world country, how would it get the pull to spearhead something like the Sokovia Accords? It wouldn't have any sort of credibility on that stage. For that matter, why would T'Chaka have a vested interest?
8** (Yes, the obvious reason is that the writers had yet to fully develop Wakanda and its culture, but in-universe explanations?)
9** Klaue and the vibranium he stole were instrumental in the events that led to Sokovia's destruction, hence why Wakanda was relevant, as they were the source of the vibranium and had failed to stop Klaue's theft. T'Chaka states as much, as I recall. Then, there were the Wakandan deaths Scarlet Witch accidentally caused, giving Wakanda even more relevance. I wouldn't say they spearheaded things, though; they were just useful to the other governments in the cause of the accords.
10** The U.S spearheaded the project, they just used Wakanda as TheFace for it to make it more an international effort instead of the American team of superheroes that are now clearly under their own government instead of working for the world. Ross had the papers all ready when T'Chaka made his first speech.
11[[/folder]]
12
13[[folder: Why Not Share The Flower?]]
14* You mean to tell me, in a nation of universal health care, the heart shaped flower is only reserved for the Black Panther? It would increase the effectiveness of their soldiers and agents, improve the general wellness of Wakanda, help people survive the accidents and general chaos of life. Sure they have technology to heal severe injuries, but you can't just bottle a medical lab.
15** The heart-shaped herb gives the powers of the Black Panther. All of the crazy feats of acrobatics, strength and general Superhuman stuff you see T'Challa doing is from that. Making ''everyone'' in a country a SuperSoldier would likely be a very, ''very'' dumb idea.
16* But why? How is people being able to do any of that a bad thing? If everyone has those abilities, it just creates a new standard of normal. And we’re not talking Man of Steel level stunts, just peak human and then some.
17** We're talking superhuman speed, strength, endurance, reflexes, and healing. Wakanda is kept on balance by tradition and order. Empowering the masses takes that away. Also, it would be harder to keep control if the masses decide to take action regarding possible colonial threats or disagree to open the borders to others in need. What if the masses don't want to help others, or disagree on how to help other countries. A civil war with citizens empowered by the herb would tear the country apart. An individual is capable of thought and rationale. A crowd is not, and an empowered crowd suddenly imbued with fantastic abilities even less so. Add Wakanda's cutting edge technology, and that's opening up a possible Pandora's box, to the point of possibly making Wakanda either the biggest threat out there, or the biggest target.
18** It may be a moot point, too, as we don't know for sure that the flower would actually work on just anyone in Wakanda. The flowers could also be too difficult/slow to grow to actually empower a lot of the population. There's a lot unanswered about just how the flowers work and what they are.
19** It's also possible that not everyone who takes it is able to come back from the ancestral plane with their sanity intact. Potential candidates for the throne are given training by their predecessors - even Erik probably learned a bit about it from his father's stories and notebook - but your average Wakandan civilian is probably more concerned about living in ''this'' world than in preparing for a spiritual sojourn. Besides, the Panther Goddess might not feel inclined to share the herb's benefits with just anybody.
20** Like the super serum it might amplified worst trait in the person or have weird side effect depending on physiology. There is a reason why the Black Panther is mostly a bloodline.
21** There's only one king. Why shouldn't there be only one superpowered person?
22** Because the power of the Panther comes with the responsibility of the King. The mantle and the power is both symbiotic and necessary in keeping balance between the tribes. Tradition and symbolism was vital in ending the civil wars that rocked Wakanda. It helped keep the peace and keep it safe from the rest of the World. Your average citizen seemed content its their lives, the soldiers served to keep Wakanda safe. The tradition of one King, one panther is not only a matter of tradition but a matter of balance that worked for centuries. Anything to disrupt that could destroy what they built and fought to protect.
23* Okay so maybe it's impractical to give to the whole population, but why only give it to one man? Why not also give it to your most trusted bodyguards, soldiers, or agents? At the very least, why not do that in the case of dire emergencies, like in Infinity War. Having a whole army of black panthers could have turned the tide there, and whatever risks were involved with it certainly were not on par with losing the infinity war.
24** They didn't have the heart-shaped herb in Infinity War because Killmonger burned Wakanda's supply of the herbs. Empowering the soldiers wasn't an option.
25** Anyone who watched Series/TheFalconAndTheWinterSoldier would knew this is a bad idea.
26* The heart-shaped herb is a ''literal'' gift from Wakanda's patron goddess, who only saw fit to endow one mortal with such powers as it bestows. If you believe the herb should rightly be shared among everyone, take it up with Bast.
27[[/folder]]
28
29[[folder:Wakandan Spies]]
30* Killmonger states that Wakanda has spies in every country. This very hard to believe considering that North Korea has such strict laws about immigration and visitors that no Wakandan could be stationed there. Furthermore, how many spies are in each country? W’Kabi says that the Wardogs in “Hong Kong, London, and New York” were on board with the new regime, but is there just one in each city? Then there’s the means of distributing the weapons effectively enough that governments could be overthrown. If Killmonger were serious, which he probably wasn’t considering his hatred for Wakanda, he would’ve spent more time on his plan. It’s just weird how he assumed that the world could be taken over so easily, even though the limitations were glaringly obvious (i.e. enough Wardogs to make an impact).
31** Some of those spies could be well paid. Blackmailed into service by Wakanda intelligence, who knows what their cutting edge technology can discover for them to be used . While Wardogs would be Wakandian, it does not mean that they would not use money, influence or information to recruit spies in places like North Korea. Because it was specified they had spies, not Wardogs in every country. This may be more explored in the sequel.
32** Also, you're assuming that the Wakandan spies would have to infiltrate authoritarian regimes, as they currently exist. But Wakanda's Wardog program pre-dates the present tyranny in North Korea by many centuries. There were probably spies in place already - maybe Koreans who know they're affiliated with Wardogs; maybe Koreans who ''think'' they're working for smugglers and/or for a completely ''different'' country's spy network; maybe just Wardogs with vibranium-enhanced versions of the disguise tech Black Widow uses - when the rest of the world began to develop the level of technology required to keep tabs on a country's populace.
33** Or Killmonger could just be using hyperbole. Even if Wakanda doesn't have spies in literally every country, it's pretty clear they have a lot of spies in a lot of different countries.
34[[/folder]]
35
36[[folder:Ross' skepticism]]
37* In the final trailer, Everett shows disbelief to Klaue that T'Challa walks around in an indestructible cat suit... But shouldn't he already know? In Civil War, T'challa was found chasing after Steve and Bucky and even unmasked in public, and during the airport fight, he was fighting with Tony's Avengers, which Secretary Ross knew all about.
38** I took Everett's narration, both when he shows disbelief in T'Challa being the Black Panther and the first one where he goes on about the various Avengers and says it's nothing compared to what he sees now (in Wakanda), to be trailer-only narration and not dialogue from the actual movie.
39** This conversation isn't in the final movie. He pretends to be ignorant about Wakanda in front of Klaue, however because he doesn't want to give away Wakanda's secrets.
40** He IS ignorant about Wakanda, just not quite as much as he lets on. He is still taken aback to learn the sheer magnitude of their Vibranium deposits and the futuristic technology they have at their disposal, and Klaue certainly knows more about Wakanda than he does.
41* In the movie itself Everett tells T'Challa he knows Wakanda is bullshitting them since a Third World country king was shown running in an indestructible cat suit but they didn't make the info public before interrogating Klaue. The surprise is that Klaue tells him it's not just armor but an ArmCannon you can make with Vibranium and Wakandian know how.
42* My take is that Ross knew that Wakanda had a relatively small quantity of Vibranium that they were too primitive to fully utilize, and was shocked to find out they have an effectively endless supply that they are extremely adept with.
43[[/folder]]
44
45[[folder: Why didn't T'Challa say anything about Killmonger?]]
46* Despite seeing him working with Klaue, T'Challa never points this out to the Wakandans that Killmonger was working with the man who they all hated and only betrayed him for his own benefit.
47** T'Challa is obviously not in a right state of mind, what with having just learned how his father killed his uncle before abandoning his cousin to fend for himself in California.
48** True. T'Challa might have seen it as a way to make amends with what happened between their fathers. It wasn't the best idea but a guy like T'Challa might see honor in it.
49** Even if that was T'Challa's way of doing things, Killmonger would have just claimed that he got close to Klaue, was pretending to help him with the intention of killing him all along.
50** To which T'Challa could counter that Killmonger stole his target right after Klaue had been captured, nearly killing T'Challa and two other Wakandans in the process. With that being said, this ties-in with what his father said, about how it's hard for a good man to be a king. Because let's be honest, the “kingly” thing to do for T'Challa in that scene was to arrest Killmonger for attempted assassination on the ruling sovereign of Wakanda and be done with it.
51** From what we see of the Wakandan system of government, it may not matter. It's clear that nobody likes M'Baku or Erik, but they have the inherent right to challenge T'Challa for the throne.
52** How could T'Challa have proven it? He only saw the ring, hanging around the neck of a man in a mask, and honesty would force him to admit that. The only defense Killmonger needs to offer is "one of Klaue's men got it off me during one of our earlier altercations."
53** The scene already establishes why. T'Challa for his part already knew who Killmonger really was and wanted to try to make amends until it became clear Killmonger was not interested. But Killmonger had already made sure to win the Border Tribe's loyalty by offering them Klaue and providing proof of his heritage through the ring. If T'Challa had made excuses, ignored the challenge and tried to lock him up, W'Kabi would have ignored the accusations as lies and called him out on defying tradition. T'Challa would lose the Border Tribe and risk losing the loyalty of the other tribes and the Dora Milaje, risking a bloody civil war. As the end battle shows, the Border Tribe are a powerful military force and T'Challa can't risk losing them when he has a way to regain W'Kabi's faith.
54** Also to all appearances Killmonger was snatching Klaue from the CIA in order to kill him, which T'Challa failed to do. Remember Klaue was still tied to the chair when grabbed. Killmonger could just claim the CIA was going to make a deal with Klaue (they did want information from him, after all) and he stopped it from happening.
55** Besides, it was clear that Killmonger was going to fight T'Challa for the throne, sooner or later. If T'Challa tries to delay the ritual combat, even if it's because he has legitimate grounds to accuse Erik of colluding with Klaue, he'll look like he's stalling out of fear. Not a good way to start out his reign.
56** In a deleted scene, Okoye does point this out to W'Kabi about how Killmonger freed Klaue, but W'Kabi isn't swayed because he feels betrayed that T'Challa took Klaue to the CIA and UN instead of bringing him to Wakanda.
57[[/folder]]
58
59[[folder:T'Chaka and His Brother]]
60* Was is really necessary for T'Chaka to kill his brother? I mean, he has super strength, bodyguard babes, a super suit and just disarmed the guy. Is it really necessary to then stab him in the heart?
61** It seemed more reflexive than anything. I think was just his natural, instinctive response to someone trying to kill one of his trusted men. He seemed pretty surprised with himself.
62** One possible explanation is that T'Chaka went JudgeJuryAndExecutioner on his brother for the double crime of treason and attempted murder on a Wakandian agent. Given all the violent traditions and policies in Wakanda, it wouldn't be out of place for the king to be able to execute a criminal on the spot. After all, T'Challa too doesn't really call out his father for the execution, but for not giving him a proper burial and leaving his nephew alone in Oakland.
63** Given that he kept the whole thing a secret I was under the impression that T’Chaka considered killing him a mercy compared to having him go down as a traitor.
64[[/folder]]
65
66[[folder: What happened to the last plane?]]
67* Ross destroyed all the planes that were sending weapons to different parts of the globe but the last plane was blasting through Suri's lab the last time we saw it. Ross escaped and could no longer pilot his own plane, which means that last plane was left in the air.
68** He was tasked with destroying the CARGO planes. If you remember, the ones he was targeting were of a different make, bigger, like the one he was piloting. That last one, attacking the lab, was a smaller attack plane, which was of no concern. He completed his job.
69[[/folder]]
70
71[[folder: Double Standard?]]
72* In ''Civil War'', T'Challa prevents Zemo from committing suicide because Zemo still has to answer for his crimes, but in this movie T'Challa allows Erik to die on his own terms even when he could save him. Sure, there's whole long-lost cousin TragicVillain and all that, but Erik is still a villain who committed countless immoral acts in his pursuit of vengeance and would have posed a threat to the entire world if T'Challa hadn't stopped him. Erik's goals are far more worse than Zemo's, so why shouldn't he also answers for his crimes regardless of his wish to die?
73** As said, Zemo is a stranger to him while T'Challa felt guilt for what his family did to Erik and letting him die in freedom was the least he could do. Also arguably the ritual fight for kingship was still in effect and would only end if Erik surrendered or died, so keeping to traditions T'Challa was supposed to let him die as Erik would not surrender.
74** Erik didn't commit any crimes in Wakanda. He racked up his kill count under service to the United States government. Being Wakandan, his challenge to T'Challa's throne was his legal right, as were his actions as (interim) King. In short, there were no crimes to answer for, and seeing as the challenge to T'Challa's throne was still active, he had the option to yield or succumb to his injuries and die.
75** He murdered the head priest, what are you talking about he didn't commit any crime? Like he just wanted to interrupt the duel and he was impaled for it by the not yet king.
76** I think it's fair to say the murders he committed during his time working with Klaue count as crimes, even if they weren't done in Wakanda. The question then is if Wakanda has any policy on dealing with criminals who committed their crimes elsewhere.
77** It's implied that just showing up in Wakanda and knowing their secrets is a potential death penalty in itself (according to Klaue, at least), plus he ordered, physically abused and even tried to kill / actually killed those in his kingdom who defied him, including attempts on other members of the royal family (not just T'Challa). It's not clear if he didn't commit ANY crimes in Wakanda since it somewhat depends on what kind of monarchy Wakanda is and how much leeway the King is allowed on this stuff, but Erik himself though that IF he was spared he would still be locked up, and T'Challa didn't argue with him on that count.
78** Plus, Killmonger didn't kill himself, ''T'Challa killed him''. Yes, it took him a little while to die, but T'Challa was the one who jammed the spear into his chest. Challenge for Kingship notwithstanding, T'Challa landed a lethal blow in the heat of kill-or-be-killed combat, and Killmonger refused medical treatment for the wound. Note that T'Challa says "We ''may'' still be able to heal you." Also, Killmonger is fairly complicated and sympathetic as Marvel villains go, and T'Challa may well have felt that his opponent had earned some leeway in deciding his own fate.
79** It also has to be recognized that the only thing keeping Killmonger alive was the blade in his heart. The only way for them to save him was emergency surgery while the blade was still in him. This is one of the rare cases where an injury was handled accurately. Even with Wakanda's advanced technology, there might have still been a low chance of saving him.
80** It could be a sign of T'Challa's further emotional development. He grew a lot by not killing Zemo himself, but still felt he needed to pay for his crimes, including killing T'Challa's father, in a fair and legal way. However he's since realized how much people like Zemo and Killmonger are victims themselves, and decided to grant Killmonger the nobility of choosing his own fate.
81** A possible difference is that Zemo's suicide was part of his original plan, while Killmonger only killed himself because he had failed. By denying Zemo the death he wanted Black Panther was depriving him of his final victory and ensured he would have to answer for his crimes.
82** Killmonger's crimes were primarily against Wakanda, and usurping the throne and starting a civil war is nearly the definition of high treason, a capitol offense in just about every nation. T'Challa letting Erik die ''is'' Killmonger paying for his crimes against Wakanda (and T'Challa's offer of healing, presumably followed by life imprisonment is clemency). The difference is that Zemo only committed one crime against Wakanda (killing T'Chaka), and even that was part of bombing a UN summit. . . doubtless '''lots''' of Very Important People were injured or killed alongside the King of Wakanda. Zemo wronged more than just Wakanda, and thus more than just Wakanda is entitled to see justice done. Aside from the robbery at the museum, Killmonger only wronged Wakanda (since his planned worldwide insurrection was stopped), so Wakanda can mete out justice as it sees fit.
83[[/folder]]
84
85[[folder:Vibranium Meteor]]
86* So it's established Wakanda's supply of Vibranium was the result of an mountain-sized meteor slamming into Earth millions of years ago. But considering the insane properties of Vibranium, shouldn't that much of it at a high velocity have destroyed the planet?
87** Perhaps it ''did'' destroy the planet, though only on the surface. If it happened millions of years ago, it might even be the same asteroid that killed the dinosaurs (assuming that dinosaurs really did go extinct from a meteor crashing into Earth).
88** The meteor that caused the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction landed in the Gulf of Mexico just off the Yucatán Peninsula, not Africa.
89*** It did in OUR world, what's to say it didn't land in Wakanda instead in the MCU?
90** There have been plenty of impact events at other geologic times, though. The end-Cretaceous one just gets all the press.
91** Vibranium in the MCU has been shown to have some property that allows it to absorb/dispel all force. It's demonstrated when Captain America's shield completely deflects the attack from Thor's hammer, and it's demonstrated more subtly when he bounces it off of surfaces that it should really smash/slice right through. If anything, it's more likely that the meteor struck the earth with relatively little impact for a meteor of its size.
92[[/folder]]
93
94[[folder: All-Purpose Vibranium]]
95* With Captain America's shield, it's been established that like its comic book counterpart, Vibranium cannot be melted down or damaged once it's been refined into solid form. How are the Wakandans able to create such a diverse array of malleable, shapeshifting gadgets and garments with it? How do they use a metal, of all things, to provide miraculous healing? Are Vibranium's properties just more nebulous than we've been given to believe up until this point? The Wakandans seem to be able to make almost anything as long as they mention Vibranium while they do it.
96** That's an aspect right from the comics, for the most part. While the rest of the world (save for the odd Tony Stark or SHIELD) has roughly contemporary levels of science, engineering, & medicine, Wakanda has giant panther robots, cloaking devices, costumes that appear from nowhere, and the cure for frikkin' cancer because having vibranium makes them a nation of Reed Richards/Tony Stark types for some reason.
97** Vibranium is canonically contrary to established laws of physics, or at least apparently is. That said, it's established right at the beginning of the film that vibranium can bond with living things and repair or strengthen them. Everything we see it do is directly related to one of its main properties: sound/energy absorption and distribution, and incredible strength. Indeed, the movie makes a point of saying that calling vibranium just a "metal" is simplifying it far too much.
98** Remember Stark Industries engineers being unable to miniaturize the arc reactor even though Tony Stark was able to do so (in a cave with a box of scraps)? Apply that same principle to Vibranium-- nobody outside of Wakanda (or at least with a Wakandan understanding of what Vibranium is capable of) has the know-how to take full advantage of what Vibranium can do. Hence, Howard Stark only being able to make a simple round shield with what little Vibranium he had access to but Wakandans being able to do just about anything with it. As far as the rest of the world knows at this point, Vibranium is just a lightweight yet virtually indestructible metal, the way Stark Industries engineers felt the arc reactor was a "science project" rather than a viable power source.
99** Ultron: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaE6vnAhYAw The most versatile substance on the planet, and they used it to make a frisbee.]]"
100** One can only wonder at what would have happened if Howard hadn't given that shield to Cap, it's possible he would have kept tinkering with it or realized he didn't have the tools to really unlock its potential like the Arc Reactors and the discovery of a new element that he couldn't create due to tech limits of the time.
101** Not ''everything'' the Wakandans have created is necessarily vibranium-based, incidentally. The vibranium gave a huge boost to their engineering, energy production, physical science, computer technology and so forth, but for the ''life'' sciences they probably didn't gain much initial help from it: rather, the existence of other vibranium-tech gave their civilization several hundred years' head start on the rest of humanity, and they had their own versions of Darwin, Pasteur, Watson & Crick, and so forth. Applications like spinal-cord-fixing vibranium beads came later, after the major breakthroughs were achieved the old-fashioned way.
102*** And we know they take in information from the outside world, so there's nothing stopping them from incorporating anything interesting other cultures discover, or building off their knowledge.
103[[/folder]]
104
105[[folder:Jabari Vegetarianism]]
106* When Ramonda, Shuri, Nakia, and Ross visit the Jabari tribe to ask for M'Baku's help in defeating Killmonger, M'Baku jokes that he will feed Ross to his children ... then goes on to say that they're actually vegetarian. Then, he reveals that his fishermen actually found T'Challa's body in the river. What's a vegetarian tribe doing fishing? Unless they meant only his actual children were vegetarian, OR they use their catch for barter.
107** It's likely the Jabari in general, not just M'Baku and his children, that are vegetarians, since they are, in terms of religion, close to Hinduism, where most people are encouraged to be vegetarians.
108** Alternatively, their customs require them to eat a similar diet to gorillas.
109** Unless those furs are fake he was probably just joking about being vegetarians, or they are vegetarians for dietary rather than ethical ones so the fishing either falls under the "fish don't count as meat" exception that some people adhere to, or as stated are mainly to barter.
110*** You don't have to eat an animal's flesh to make use of its hide. They may harvest the pelts of animals that die of natural causes or are killed by wild predators.
111** It is possible they practice fishing exclusively for sport. Certain forms of fishing are good spear or bow practice.
112** Here's a possibility: when he says "children", he's not speaking literally, but actually means he has pet apes. After all, we never ''see'' them, and you'd think he'd have a couple of them around in his court if they truly were his children.
113*** Depends how old the children in question are. A formal audience with exiled royals isn't exactly the place for a cranky four-year-old.
114** Or he ''was'' speaking literally about his children, ''including'' when he said "we are vegetarian". As in, his ''immediate family'' happen to be vegetarians, not his entire tribe.
115** Some [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pescetarianism Pescetarians]] incorrectly label themselves "vegetarian".
116** Alternately, they may use fish as fertilizer.
117** Or they're {{Troll}}ing their visitors. They aren't exactly friendly with Wakanda, and messing with the white guy is just a bonus.
118[[/folder]]
119
120[[folder: Why didn't Shuri take both necklaces?]]
121* When T'Challa is revived, Shuri reveals that she had taken his Black Panther suit necklace with her when she, Ramonda, Nakia, and Ross escaped Wakanda. The question is, why didn't Shuri take both necklaces from her lab? She only made two new Black Panther suits, both of which are stored in necklace forms that are easy enough to carry. Taking only one necklace means the other one would be discovered and eventually used by Erik, which is exactly what happens in the climax. Plus, taking both necklaces mean there can be two people on their side who can be Black Panthers and leaving Erik with nothing. Granted, they only have one heart-shaped flower, but an extra armor would still be a boon to their side considering its abilities.
122** Probably she just wasn't in the right frame of mind given that, you know, her brother just seemingly died and an extremely ruthless killer is now her new king.
123** Additionally, we don't know if T'Challa had placed it next to the other necklace in the lab. He very well could have given it Shuri before the ritual combat and she just kept it; to his relief.
124** The ladies are hoping that if they flee to join M'Baku's people, Killmonger won't hunt them down, either at all or at least not before they have time to slip out of Wakanda. If they ''don't'' leave a necklace behind, Killmonger will come looking for one of ''those'' for certain, because he openly states that he intends to claim the Black Panther title as well as the throne. And once he finds references to the necklaces in Shuri's weapons-research files, looking for new toys to ship out to the War Dogs, he's not going to settle for wearing T'Challa's old ''Civil War'' outfit.
125[[/folder]]
126
127[[folder: Do we really ''need'' the Heart-Shaped Herb?]]
128* Looking at what the Herb does in the greater context of the MCU, it is a dead-ringer for the Super Soldier Serum that was used to make Captain America back in the 40's. Wakanda was probably way ahead of the world technologically even back then, so there's no reason to believe that they couldn't just make something similar or synthesize that compound in the Herb that grants its powers from T'Challa's blood other than for reasons of tradition (and considering that T'Challa just threw their biggest tradition out the window regarding their secrecy this probably wouldn't be an issue any more). The loss of the Herb is still a great cultural blow for the Wakandans, but it's not the end of the Black Panther.
129** Who says the herbs being cultivated in that garden were the only ones that existed anywhere across the breadth of Wakanda, for that matter? Or that there aren't some seeds stashed away just in case?
130** Also note that, in 70+ years of scientific advancement, none of the MCU's several super-geniuses have been able to replicate the SSS. The closest anyone came was the Winter Soldier program, which obviously did not work out well and was possibly lost when the Soviet Union fell. It may be that there simply is no other reliable method of enhancing a person's abilities, or that Steve was just unique and the Serum wouldn't have worked as well on anyone else. (This is similar to the comics, where "mutates" are people with a certain genetic potential for superpowers, which is activated by some catalyst and gives them a specific powerset.)
131** The plot of ''Civil War'' and directly connected to ''The Winter Soldier'' revolve around the simple fact that Howard Stark DID manage to successfully duplicate the Super Soldier Serum which was then immediately stolen for the continued Winter Soldier project.
132** In the comics, it is explicitly stated that other people had taken the formula but were failures, and Steve was a one in a million success story not so much because he is a mutate (he isn't, as far as I know) but more to do with his innate IncorruptiblePurePureness (though this is undermined a bit since the Red Skull used a clone body of Rogers for a time and got the serum via that himself, I supposed you could hand wave that by saying that the Skull is [[PureIsNotGood a different kind of pure anyway]]).
133** Maybe the herb IS crucial to the Super Soldier Serum. Remember that the only successful serum was in CA: TFA, where vibranium was also first introduced. Who's to say that the vibranium for Cap's shield and (assuming the herb was an important ingredient for SSS) the SSS didn't come from Wakanda?
134** Another reason why they probably wouldn't recreate a Super Soldier Serum instead is because the power of the Black Panther can be taken away with some sort of antidote, which I doubt is the case with the Super Soldier Serum. So, in time, when someone challenges T'Challa to the throne, his power can be taken away to make the ritual fight actually fair. But, I kinda doubt that that was ALL the flowers and they'll grow more over time.
135** The Super Soldier Serum is synthetic and the Heart-Shaped Herb is natural; that's the difference. Being a natural phenomenon means it can be passed on to anyone (as far as we know) while any serums we've seen have had dubious effects when mass-produced, to say the least.
136** Don't forget that Super-Soldier Serum also required the use of "vita-rays", whatever they are, and involves a rather painful transformation. Heart-Shaped Herb neither requires hi-tech rays nor seems particularly painful (emotional pain of seeing dead relatives notwithstanding).
137** The thing is the heart shaped herb has advantages over the only two known super serums in the Marvelverse. Unlike [[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Howard Stark's version it wont create blood thirsty short fused agents that even HYDRA cannot control.]] Also unlike [[Series/AgentsOfSHIELD Project Centipede it doesn't need constant injections or maintenance to ensure peak super human levels.]] In fact the only successful result from the project was [[MillionToOneChance Mike Peterson and he was a fluke.]] Also he still has to contend with an accelerated metabolism he has to keep in check. The flower can be grown in vast numbers. Has no side effects shown in movie. The flower could literally create an army of supermen overnight, without drawback, constant maintenance or fear of psychosis .
138** Even if Erskine's original Super-Soldier Serum formula could be rediscovered, it still has the problem of "Good becomes great. Bad becomes worse." Killmonger was dangerous enough with his mix of righteous anger and desire for personal vengeance; imagine if his bad points had been worsened.
139** Even if they ''could'' synthesize the substance in question, letting the herbs do it for them is probably much easier. Consider for example the prospect of synthesizing wood in a lab instead of just farming trees.
140** The Heart-Shaped Herb is sacred in Wakandan culture. Even if the artificial serum was ''much'' more effective, the Herb's loss is still a tragedy that Wakandans would go to tremendous lengths to undo if they can.
141[[/folder]]
142
143[[folder: Hands off my concubine]]
144* So is the tidbit about the Dora Milaje being BP's potential wives still in effect in the MCU? Because... W'Kabi is all but explicitly in a romantic relationship with one of them... how's that work?
145** I believe it's been altered to avoid the obvious implications of the main hero having a harem, and instead the Dora Milaje are just his bodyguards so Okoye and W'Kabi being in a relationship is not a problem.
146** Also, T'Challa is pretty clearly in a relationship with Nakia, who is not a Dora Milaje. And his mother doesn't look like she used to be a Dora either (for one thing, she still has her hair).
147[[/folder]]
148
149[[folder: Hanuman in Wakanda?]]
150* It's understandable how an Egyptian goddess like Bast could have followers in Wakanda before the vibranium meteor hit, but how does an Indian god like Hanuman gain followers in an isolated African country?
151** I think it was some sort of homage to the Indo-African community. Or more likely it was choosing Hanuman, the monkey god of strength, to suit a character who had AdaptationalHeroism.
152** It is possibly a reference to Indian-West African trade. However, it is rather bothersome considering that there are actual African primate deities, like Ghekre or even Thoth (who was depicted as a baboon, sometimes).
153** Ghekre in the comics is an evil god worshiped by a thoroughly villainous M'Baku. Since the film's version of M'Baku is [[AdaptationalHeroism an honorable rival rather than a villain]], it's understandable that he was given a different, more benevolent god to worship. And Thoth's association with baboons is fairly obscure, being best-known as an ibis god. The Hindu god Hanuman ''is'' an odd choice for an ancient African tribe that's too isolationist to have a lot of cultural contact with India. But since [[AllMythsAreTrue in the MCU Bast and Hanuman apparently both exist as actual deities despite being from different religions]], there's no reason Hanuman couldn't have appeared in a vision to the Jabari leader during ancient times, the same way Bast did to the first Black Panther.
154** It should be noted that Ghekre in Marvel is a major case of EverybodyHatesHades. In his native mythology of the Baule people, he is a god of justice and judgement; basically a gorilla Anubis.
155** My take on it is that the Wakandans have worshiped a Panther god and a Gorilla god since ancient times and just picked up the names other cultures use for the same basic concept over the years. Like, "Hey, our spies in India tell us that they worship the Gorilla God too, but they call him 'Hanuman'." "Hanuman, huh? That's a cool name."
156** Or it could be the other way around. Wakanda is a ''very'' old nation, and it's been sending spies to watch other countries for a very long time. Maybe the Egyptians and Indians picked up the idea of feline and simian gods from ''them''.
157** Hardly. Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world, perhaps the oldest surviving one, and is descended from Central Asian tribes. Hanuman was being worshipped long before ancient Vedic Aryans even heard of Africa.
158** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncretism Syncretism]] in polytheistic faiths isn't really uncommon, and even the most stringent isolationism is never going to be ''perfect''- especially if you maintain spies in most if not all major countries, as Wakanda is said to do. All it takes is one guy coming home to tell his friends and family about the cool god the guys next door have.
159[[/folder]]
160
161[[folder:Hong Kong]]
162* While I understand Killmonger really didn't give a damn about the sentiments of anyone but himself with the plan implied to be doomed to failure, how did he think giving weapons to the handful of black immigrants or expats who reside in Hong Kong would lead to them successfully overthrowing the local authorities, even with War Dog assistance?
163** His plan would've worked literally nowhere. As an experienced soldier, he had to have known that on some level. He wasn't expecting a few expats in Hong Kong to overthrow the Chinese government, he was just trying to get them to kill as many Chinese people as possible before dying (assuming any of them took the offer, which is unlikely... but then there's still the War Dogs) as part of his general "lash out against the world" plan.
164** I'm not sure if it's stated otherwise in the movie, but I get the impression that sending the weapons to the War Dogs are just the beginning phase of his plan. As insane as he is, I think Erik could realize that he's severely outnumbered if he's intending on taking on the whole world all at once. Ross mentioned that he's an elite black ops who assisted in taking down many governments in the past, so maybe he could be planning to use those War Dog squads to work behind the scenes, orchestrating conflicts from the shadows HYDRA-style. Combining guerrilla, hit-and-run tactics with Wakanda's far superior technology (that includes sneakers that omit no sounds, Vibranium bulletproof armors, spears that could take down tanks, cloaks that emit nigh-invulnerable shield barriers, invisible planes, for starters), and even a handful of freedom fighters could actually pose a real threat to any government.
165** The actual technological wealth and power of Wakanda is still secret at the moment, so he could have got away with it for a while and it's possible for his plan to be very effective IF he distributes it strategically and makes sure they are used intelligently; granted, there is little indication of this in the movie, but the possibility remains open.
166** It probably wouldn't exclusively revolve around arming random black folks. Killmonger's plan could have involved destabilising non-black power structures through actions like radicalising Hong Kong nationalists through the War Dogs and inciting them to openly rebel against the Chinese government with Wakandan superweapons, creating a flashpoint that will draw in world powers like the United States and throw them off-balance, which in turn generates a power vacuum that the nascent Wakandan Empire can exploit. The weapons shipment is just the first step of the plan, and the most visible from our viewpoint.
167** Was Killmonger interested in attacking governments first, or did he want to take out/take over the sorcerers? Hong Kong, London, and New York are the locations of the three Sanctums.
168** Probably just a coincidence. Most of the War Dogs expressed doubt or refusal to carry out the plans; Hong Kong, London, and New York were just the ones responding with agreement.
169*** Though what's interesting to note is that all three of those cities have suffered from either extraterrestrial or extra-dimensional attacks (though granted, it's questionable how much the ones in Hong Kong would even know about that considering Doctor Strange's use of the Time Stone, plus, given that the film takes place shorty after Civil War, it's unclear if the events of Doctor Strange have taken place yet). Perhaps the Wardogs in those cities didn't necessarily agree with Killmonger's plan, but had ulterior motives in agreeing to receiving weapon shipments.
170** Perhaps the cities are attacked to target colonizing powers. London was/is the capitol of the British Empire. New York is a key part of the American economy, and while America did not colonize Africa per se, they have destabilized African governments, most destructively in the Libyan Civil War. As for China, their [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Belt_One_Road_Initiative One Belt, One Road Initiative]] can be considered economic colonialism.
171** One reason for including Hong Kong has nothing to do with the film's plot. The Chinese market is very lucrative, and including scenes set in China can help with market access.
172*** There were, however, no actual scenes set in Hong Kong in this movie. (There were scenes set in Busan, South Korea.) Perhaps the mention alone could play into trying to appeal to the Chinese market, though.
173** A suicidal rampage fits very well his philosophy, as stated when he died. "It's better to jump ship and die free than live in bondage", sinking the ship and taking out as many of your enemies with you is a neat added bonus.
174[[/folder]]
175
176[[folder:The Ancestral Plane]]
177* The first time we see T'Challa's vision of the ancestral plane, there's about 4 black panthers in the tree he approaches, one of which transforms into T'Chaka. Being that each panther represents a former king of Wakanda (who also bears the mantle of Black Panther), isn't 4 too few, considering Wakanda's long history? Or are there more in the background that I just didn't see?
178** There might have just happened to be four who were "there" at the moment, or there's a limit on how many a person could perceive at a time. It could be similar to ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' where Aang and Korra could meet with any of their past lives, but generally only one showed up at any given time.
179** Note when T'Challa goes a second time, he sees a large group of former kings and queens behind his father. They thought he was dying and ready to join him and thus coming out as a "welcome" to the afterlife. Earlier, they knew that had to be a talk between father and son.
180** Theory: each tree in the Ancestral Plane represents a ruling family. At some point one of the Black Panthers must've lost a challenge and ceded the throne to a new ruler. So the five visible panthers are simply T'challa's direct ancestors, not all the past rulers of Wakanda.
181** Interviews and such apparently refer to the royal family as the Golden Tribe. Its unclear if a successful challenger becomes part of it, or if the royal family really hasn't been successfully deposed since the beginning of Wakanda.
182*** Maybe "Golden Tribe" is just an honorific granted to whichever of the four tribes the current royal family belongs to, and T'Challa's tribe would revert to some other name if his successor loses out to a challenger. Artisan Tribe, perhaps? Since both his sister and he (at least in the comics) are inventors?
183[[/folder]]
184
185[[folder:Wakanda's isolationism]]
186* How well-exposed is the average Wakandan to the outside world? We know that the royal family is fairly well-travelled and familiar with American pop culture, but would ordinary citizens be as free to leave the country as they wish? Are they allowed to consume foreign media and connect to the same Internet as the rest of the world?
187** The rest of the world knows Wakanda exists, but they assume it's another third world African nation. Even most third world nations are familiar with American media (i.e. Wakaliwood), so it's probably not a big deal if other Wakandans want to travel abroad so long as they keep Wakanda's true level of tech a secret. It's also possible life is so much better in Wakanda that most would rather stay and improve their country than leave.
188** By the number of spies stated to be embedded around the world, it seems to be that Wakanda's isolationism is one way. They don't have any issues with Wakandans traveling outside their borders, just with non-nationals visiting. Unlike North Korea, Wakanda's government doesn't peddle any myths about themselves or the outside world to the population, so there's no risk of a facade being broken by people bringing news from outside. TheMasquerade is outward-facing, so it's likely that the only restriction placed on foreign travel is that travelers maintain the lie that Wakanda is a broke, humble farming state. To add to this, as well as being ''decades'' ahead of the rest of the globe from a technological standpoint, Wakanda seems a pretty good place to live. It looks clean, prosperous and stable, and the ruling class are well loved. Very few people probably ''want'' to leave permanently (if at all) or do anything to jeopardise their quasi-Utopian home.
189** There are probably ''some'' limitations on who can leave Wakanda, as you wouldn't want to let a lone hothead or lousy liar to spoil TheMasquerade for the rest of your society. Applying for a passport might involve weeks of preparatory training (e.g. how to use those clumsy slab-shaped phones the outsiders make do with), and tests of one's ability to maintain the deception (e.g. another traveler falls and skins her knee; if you slap a bead on the wound and heal it instantly, you just flunked). A suitable cover-identity would also be required, with phony paperwork and ID saying you're from Kenya or wherever, and first-time travelers would most likely need an experienced escort.
190** It's also likely that Wakandans, with their higher technology level, do not have any real interest in the "primitive" stuff produced by the outside world. Including popular culture, surely their have their local ones. In fact, they probably have something like the Star Trek holosuites, and once you get used to them, why bother with cinema at all?
191** There's plenty of evidence that shows Wakandans aren't stingy in taking some bits of Western trends and making it their own. The chief of the River Tribe has a Western style suit made from Wakandan textiles, and Shuri's 'sneakers' are directly drawn from Franchise/BackToTheFuture (plus she's into internet memes). There's no outright disdain for foreign influence, but anything foreign is likely to be Wakandanized to suit the preferences of its citizens.
192[[/folder]]
193
194[[folder:Killmonger's ID]]
195* If Erik was born in Oakland and has never been to Wakanda, how did he get that lip mark that identified him as Wakandan?
196** Perhaps the lip mark is genetic, rather than some kind of tattoo.
197** He actually explicitly points out his father made him that tattoo when he was a kid in the hopes he'd one day return to his home. Where the heck N'Jobu got the tools for a traditional Wakandan tattoo when stationed in the Oakland projects is where the actual headscratcher comes in (perhaps asking for them in a supply drop from Wakanda was what finally clued T'Chaka in that Something Was Up)?
198** There's no reason to assume N'Jobu had to remain in the U.S. non-stop for the entire duration of his undercover mission. Even War Dogs probably get to return home once in a while, and if there are ceremonies to mark the birth of royal heirs as well as their crowning, T'Chaka might've called him home to commemorate T'Challa's birth. Assuming Erik was the older of the two cousins, N'Jobu could have smuggled some tattoo-ink for Erik back with him.
199** You know tattooing and scarification tools are VERY much OlderThanPrint, right? The only issues with Wakandan War-Dog tattoos is that they're explicitly in a hard-to-reach area, and [[BioluminescenceIsCool the ink glows.]] It's very possible that they use Vibranium-enhanced ink, but hand-tapped with something basic like [[http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/getmedia/a9902541-f4b5-4b7c-859f-caa308828823/tatau-tools-700x.jpg?ext=.jpg&width=700 Samoan-style bone combs.]] It's not even an elaborate tattoo, so N'Jobu wouldn't need any particular artistic skills. The only thing he really needs is the magical ink, and he could very well [[{{MacGyvering}} MacGyver]] his own tattooing tools with a few needles tied to the end of a stick. And since N'Jobu was stationed in Oakland with a very high Polynesian/Pacific-Islander population, [[MundaneSolution he may have just found a Samoan tattoo artist and borrowed THEIR tools.]] All he'd need to do is go [[ValuesResonance "hey, some of the Wakandan tribes use these kind of tattooing needles, too!]] [[GoodParents Can I show this to my son for a couple of days?"]]
200[[/folder]]
201
202[[folder: Vibranium vulnerable to sound?]]
203* Shuri explains to the audience that she devised special sound-based technology to render raw vibranium inert for transport. However, it ''also'' affects nanites built out of processed vibranium (a major plot point in the climactic duel) and Klaue's sound-based mining tool actually ''blew up'' the vibranium-coated car. Since the entire point of vibranium in the comics is its ability to absorb sound and kinetic energy, hence its name, does it mean the MCU version lacks this ability? (And would Klaue be able to dissolve Cap's shield if he somehow came back?)
204** It's stated multiple times, let alone shown outright, that Vibranium's main property is still absorbing vibrations and kinetic energy in the MCU. It's literally the main gimmick of T'Challa's new suit. It just turns out that some special sonic frequency or phenomenon also exists that can stabilise and deactivate its volatile properties temporarily. Cap's shield would probably briefly become inert and lose its bouncy and impenetrable properties for a time, the Panther suits only dissolved because the stabilisers (and Klaue's shot) deactivated the nanites, causing them to partly return back into necklace form, which is its default, inert form.
205** Sound can be negated by the right counter-frequency, so the sonic stabilizers may operate at just the right wavelength and amplitude to neutralize vibranium's own vibratory/counter-vibratory properties. Klaue's shot didn't negate the vibranium, it ''overloaded'' it much like Shuri's stabilizers prevent the ore-trains from doing. So rather than just absorbing impacts, it shook itself to bits. That's probably how the mining-tool Klaue's gun was crafted from would reduce huge chunks of vibranium ore to portable gravel.
206[[/folder]]
207
208[[folder: Klaue lost money/timeline]]
209* In ''Age of Ultron'', Klaue was running a large mercenary outfit, has a large supply of Vibranium he apparently stole quite recently and becomes a billionaire from his deal with Ultron. Yet in ''Black Panther'', the only theft by Klaue mentioned was 25 years ago and he has been reduced to pulling heists for tiny Vibranium pieces a fraction of the size of his last heist with a crew of only about a dozen men at most. What the hell happened to him? With that money and his knowledge of Wakandan tech he could start up his own private army rather to take over the country himself (especially if he tried getting the US or some other country to back him up with the promise of tech) rather then being a petty thug.
210** The Avengers knew about his deal with Ultron, they probably ensured his accounts were frozen. Klaue flees his base he didn't have an opportunity to take the vibranium with him.
211** Minor additional point: Ultron transfers the money to multiple dummy accounts that would be difficult to trace back to Klaue, specifically to prevent someone freezing his accounts.
212** It's also stated in [=AoU=] itself that that giant shipment of vibranium went all into either Ultron's final shell or into the machinery that lifted Sokovia into the sky, with the largest chunk going into the central spire. Even Ross brings up the vibranium from "the Sokovia attack" in this movie when T'Challa first meets him in the casino. Additionally, while the Avengers were evidently incapable of preventing Ultron from taking that cargo, they definitely incapacitated Klaue's troops at the wrecked ship long enough for the authorities to handle them.
213** When Vision hacked Ultron he probably could've seen all the accounts Ultron transferred money to. Alternatively that could be gleaned from Ultron's dead body (if an arm survived, as seen in Homecoming, then the CPU could've too).
214*** Vision may even have ''had'' to wipe out Klaue's bank accounts, because he was scrubbing every last trace of Ultron's code from the worldwide computer networks. Knowing Ultron, the evil AI might well have covertly seeded those accounts with his own code as yet another backup.
215** First, Klaue is not necessarily reduced to small-scale operations. Even if the great amount of vibranium he possessed made him a multi-billionaire, someone like Klaue would jump at any occasion to grab some vibranium and resell it. He's a smuggler after all and an easy business opportunity is not beneath him. The "tiny" vibranium piece from the museum looks like a massive ingot (whereas vibranium ore has been mostly presented like obviously less massive shards) and is still worth a suitcase full of diamonds. Alternatively, his earned billions could have been compounded by the loss of the military equipment he's had in his ship hideout when he fled.
216** Secondly, for all the money he could have, Klaue knows better than to try invading the best-defended country in the world, surrounded by mountain ranges and a dense jungle, whose population has a well-trained military wise to his tricks, weapons centuries ahead of anything he could get (except HYDRA weapons or the alien guns from ''Homecoming''), and a secret spy-network around the world. His first heist in Wakanda was a one-in-a-lifetime chance made possible because of an insider and the element of surprise. Klaue knows enough of Wakanda to know that he's made a very powerful enemy, but certainly not enough to identify any weakness. Finally, a criminal like him wouldn't think of involving anyone like the US, his modus operandi is to make himself unnoticed (like his effort to make a crime scene look like amateur work).
217** Klaue had probably been on the run since the events of ''Age of Ultron'', probably unable to get to his accounts even if they still exist. His crew may have largely bailed out on him, considering that associating with him resulted in a full-scale battle between the Avengers and a group of killer robots aboard their secret smuggling ship, which, hence, is no longer so secret... so he most likely lost the ship as well, confiscated by the South African government. (Governments tend not to like smugglers.) A lot of the remaining resources he had must have gone into replacing his arm. The vibranium theft is a good job for someone in his position. Except for the way it ended up.
218[[/folder]]
219
220[[folder: Cover Blown by Xhosa]]
221* So one of Klaue's men caught Okoye speaking Xhosa, which blew her cover as Wakandan. Couldn't Okoye just claim she was from South Africa or Zimbabwe and walk away, or was Klaue's men suspicious of anyone who spoke Xhosa?
222** Probably the latter. Considering the location, there was little reason for anyone to be speaking that language unless they had something to hide, especially since Okoye was alone at the time. Its not like its a worldwide language, so high levels of suspicion seem warranted when your boss is at the very top of Wakanda's Most Wanted list.
223** Was he suspicious because she was speaking Xhosa? It seemed more like he was suspicious because she was visibly sizing up the guards.
224** And clearly speaking through hidden headphones. Okay, hands-free devices are nothing new, but when you're a sensible bodyguard on a very illegal mission and expect resistance you get suspicious about anyone - especially a woman in a dress in a casino - speaking through well-hidden headphones.
225** He also may have had his suspicions roused by [[DodgyToupee that miserable excuse for a wig]].
226[[/folder]]
227
228[[folder:Wakanda vs the world]]
229* Even if Killmonger's plan was allowed to proceed, the ensuing conflict would have meant the end of Wakanda regardless of their Vibranium weapons that would be a few handheld firearms and spears against entire armies and WMD's as well as the resulting violence towards all those of African descent as being part of those who attacked their governments.
230** Did you miss their fighter craft and the arm cannon and the implication that those transports had far more on them than just spears?
231** The novelization Of Iron Man 2 has a short remark by JARVIS, that the new element in Tony's personal Arc Reactor had characteristics similar to Vibranium. Recall that this element was conceived of by Howard Stark, after studying the Tesseract. If these connections hold true and we recall the weapons that SHIELD wanted to build with the Tesseract and the weapons that Hydra did build, then it's a good bet to say that Wakanda has those weapons, likely centuries ahead of what Arnim Zola had ever dreamed of.
232** The film itself (via W'Kabi) lampshades that the rest of the world is catching up to Wakanda's technology, and T'Challa even argues that making an enemy of the rest of the planet could destroy Wakanda. The Fridge Horror comes back when Erik not only agrees but says he doesn't care.
233** One has to wonder how Wakandan force fields and stuff would've held up against mass nukes.
234** The nukes and other forms of WMD would be a high-priority target for Killmonger anyway.
235** Not only that by the time the World figured out who was behind the attacks their WMD capabilities most likely would have been taken out. Meaning that they would have to rely on conventional warfare. Warfare that would be hampered by Wakanda's greater spy tech and precise EMP's. The Wakanda intelligence network seemed formidable with operatives literally all over the World. Wakanda had advanced intelligence and surveillance mapping seen in the beginning. Mass stealth technology, technology that allowed remote control over other vehicles. Portable sonic weaponry able to take out a tank mass produced and supplied. First strike capability, backed with unmatched technology, intelligence and stealth. By the time Wakanda struck first, taking out WMD's and using their EMP's for mass chaos. The damage to the military and infrastructure would be immeasurable. When you add stealth jets that can drop in and take out strategic targets. Such as military and world leaders worldwide . Then in that first strike Wakanda gains a major advantage. Maybe the World could fight back given enough time. But Wakanda not only relied on their technology but the numbers that could join them. The World is not a fair place, the oppressed, the angry. Waiting for a flag, a cause that could grant them freedom, payback or worth. Adds serious numbers to their advanced arsenal.
236*** The trouble there is that we see no evidence Wakanda has the means to take out the [=WMDs=] of other nations via their spies, a number of whom it is noted did not agree to help anyway. And if fragments of Jarvis can stop Ultron from infiltrating the nuclear weapon sites of the world, it stands to reason Vision could do the same if Wakanda tried to disable or use other nations weapons. It also isn't stated to be part of Killmonger's plan, his plan being a simple "give a few thousand angry black people advanced weapons and presume a bunch of others will just join them and we'll win," not a plan of "disable the defense infrastructures of all the most powerful nations before they panic and use their weapons."
237*** Considering in the latest ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' we see the Avengers head to Wakanda to use tier military to fight off an invading alien horde. Its safe to say that logical they would go to the most advanced military power on the planet to stand a fighting chance. Considering what they are up against. Them going to Wakanda is a testament to its technological edge over the rest of the World. Also its not only giving a few thousand black people weapons. Its given dissidents, the dispossessed, the angry, the desperate those looking for a cause and a reason. Highly advanced tech, undetectable weapons that each have the stopping power of anti-amour capable of tearing apart Tanks. Without the bulk, weight or ammo restrictions. Its about the Wakanda surveillance and intelligence systems. Its about their precise and portable EMP tech. Its about centuries of agents and observations of potential threats backed by their fortune. Its about them having stealth technology that enables literal invisibility that could have them easily infiltrate important targets, take them out and leave again. Its about that the ability to override enemy drones, fighter planes, tanks and use them against their enemies. T'challa was not one prone to exaggeration, if he truly believed his people were capable to bring a World War to the world. Then their was a good reason for that.
238*** Where does Killmonger give any indication that he is giving weapons to non-black dissidents? Where does he indicate he is going to make use of EMP tech or surveillance? I am legitimately curious where you are getting the idea that he had a complex plan, or if you are assuming he had one and we just weren't shown. His focus was squarely on causing bloodshed, he even says as much that he wants everyone to feel his pain. And lets not forget that Wakanda doesn't have a monopoly on stealth technology, cloaking systems have been in the wider MCU for quite a while.
239*** Why wouldn't he. It would be more practical and it adds to his number. Killmonger was trained by the US government in creating chaos, targeting enemies weak points and destabilizing countries. Trained by the best to do the worst. Dropped behind without support to take down targets with any asset they can find. Dissents are assets, angry people are assets , terrorists are assets. Give them an opportunity to legitimate hurt the object of their rage and you have disposable numbers to add to your arsenal.
240* Perhaps destroying Wakanda is part of the agenda. Considering their former king killed his dad, left him to rot in inner-city poverty, and they've lived in isolation and prosperity while Africa went through centuries of colonial exploitation and the diaspora from the slave trade lived as second-class citizens even after outright slavery was abolished, they probably "deserved" to be punished as much as any other oppressor in Killmonger's mind.
241** Ross theorizes that he is subconsciously sabotaging Wakanda by destroying the heart shaped herb. By destroying the herb he destroys future black panthers. By doing that he erodes the legitimacy of future kings. Wakanda is set up to fail even if it succeeds.
242** [[WordOfGod The Director has stated that while Killmonger is filled with rage. There has been no word on it being self-destructive or directed at Wakanda.]] He genuinely was planning on taking on the world and winning by any means possible.
243** I'm not certain (and where in the world did the director even say it?) that taking on the world and wanting Wakanda destroyed is that different, especially given the above justifications he thinks he has to think it counts as an oppressor. Plus, him destroying the heart shaped herb and the consequences of doing so as mentioned above, should be proof enough at him directing his rage at Wakanda is accurate.
244* It's possible that Killmonger actually knows his plan will fail. Wakanda no longer has quite the technological edge it once did due to people like Stark and reversed engineered alien weapons. They are likely to have much of their weapons captured anyway since they are sending it to previously unorganized radicals not warriors, never mind that fact that a lot of black people would simply grab some vibranium weapons when they are being passed out but side against the Wakandans. Never mind the fact they would be severely outnumbered. [[note]] It's highly unlikely other African nations would go along with the plan considering it would mean giving up their sovereignty to Wakanda.[[/note]]. Then, you know, there are superheroes in this universe. He just wants the world (including Wakanda) to suffer as much as he has.
245** I don't know how much the ''Superhero'' threat could be. Most of them could be taken out by a weapon that can take out a tank, especially [[{{Unobtainium}} one powered by Vibranium.]] Remember they are planning [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized to arm a lot of people out there . Even if half of the two billion Killmonger mentioned in his speech took arms and joined up that's serious numbers.]] The Wakanda technology is still advanced enough to bring the War. The oppressed, suppressed, powerless victims living under tyranny, the displaced masses of countless wars, the angry, the lost, rebels in third world countries. A large assortment of people out there looking for a flag to follow, to make the World fair and here comes Wakanda with the tech, intel and weaponry to do it. Even Vision could be hurt by them as they created tools specifically to mine Vibranium. He would be cut apart, unknown if Doctor Strange would interfere as not a mystical threat. The two greatest powerhouses left are Thor and Hulk and they were off-world at the time. What if they used Suri remote devices to take over fighter planes, jets or even a Helicarrier. It would be a fight, maybe the heroes would win? But in an actual war scenario where Wakanda strikes first with their technology and agents. Arming dissidents, with the intelligence they have gathered over the years while playing harmless. The odds would be fifty-fifty, the war would be prolonged and victory for the [[PyrrhicVictory rest of the World would come at a great cost of resources and lives.]]
246*** That assumes a lot of things though that don't seem supported by what is shown. Wakanda is not that large a nation, and those transports were not carrying that many weapons. At most they would have initially armed thousands of people, not millions, let alone half of the two billion. They would be incredibly outnumbered, and superior weapons can only make up for that so much. Killmonger's plan hinges heavily as well on these inexperienced, angry people actually being organized and capable enough to engage in a war on the scale that he claims to want. It also hinges on the initial rounds of violence encouraging the number of spies who opposed his plan to change their minds, and for the would-be usurpers to not be taken out by their respective nations before the supposed coalitions of oppressed could form. Practically nothing about Killmonger's plan seemed to be practical for anything more than getting a bunch of people killed for nothing, especially given he was restricting his support to only people with black skin, meaning every other oppressed group in the world would be fighting against his usurpers as well. Besides, contrary to what Killmonger thinks, most oppressed people, and people in general for that matter, don't want to go out and start killing people. He also claims he wants Wakanda to be the ruler of these conquered places, and it seems likely a lot of the oppressed groups wouldn't be keen on simply replacing leaders they don't like with a foreign leader they know nothing about, and thus may not cooperate to begin with.
247*** If the Avengers think that Wakanda has the ability to go toe to toe with an invading alien nation. Then logically it means that Wakanda has the teeth to bring the war when needed. Especially Killmonger plan was a massive first strike. One backed by undetectable weapons capable of wiping out tanks and stealth ships. Numbers would mean little if a hidden attack wiped out leaders, infrastructure, and support systems. Also why would oppressed people not fight against their oppressors? Their tormentors, those who enslaved them,.abuse them , the corrupt who control them? If not given the chance, the power to do so why would they not fight to make their lives better? Also after the dust settled whats left of the World would need technology to keep order, to rebuild. Who holds the best tech rules, in the end that would be Wakanda.
248*** The Avengers didn't go to Wakanda for their army (even though they did need that too), they went because they needed the mind stone removed from Vision and the Wakandans were the only ones with the tech to do it; given the damage Warmachine was able to do against Thanos's forces, largely with standard US military tech (machine guns and explosives), I would say the rest of the world could put up a very good fight, and with their immense numbers and resource advantages would likely overwhelm Wakanda. As for the oppressed minority's not joining them (black and otherwise), there are many reasons not to; a)they don't care to switch the devil they know for one they don't, b) they feel no kinship with Wakanda (the non-African minorities definitely won't, and many of those who are will hold their national or ideological identities more important than their racial ones) and are unwilling to go to war on their behalf, c) if Killmonger only cares for oppressed blacks (which is plausible) all other ethnic groups will be alienated regardless of what they think of their oppressors (during world war 2 the Chetniks and Partisans of Yugoslavia fought each other just as fiercely, and sometimes more, than the Nazis who were occupying them.) and d) most people will not be willing to kill friends, neighbours and strangers just because someone they have never met gives them a speech and a spear (even less considering the extent of the brutality Eric desires; he explicitly states he wants to kill children.). Finally, it must be said that Wakanda has not sufficiently prepared to pull off this revolution; their covert efforts were focused on intelligence gathering, not sabotage or sedition, and were thus ill-prepared to start a rebellion. Such things would take years to set up, and Killmonger was clearly not going to wait; the heroes desperation to stop the shipments and Eric's own behaviour indicate the war would start as soon as the weapons were received. Taking all this into account, it is pretty clear the plan was not going to succeed and Eric did not care if it did; he just wanted everything to burn.
249*** If Eric wanted everything to burn there were far easier ways to do it. Motivation wise when speaking with his father, it was more about making things right then vengeance. He actually had a plan to do so and in the movie was working on it as well. He also spoke of Wakanda being lost not Wakanda needing to be burned and the World with it. Signifying his motivation to make right what he thought was wrong with the world. Albeit, in a very violent and destructive way. [[WordOfGod Also Ryan Coogler has stated that Killmonger is out to change the status quo. No mention of making it burn, or destroy Wakanda. ]]
250*** You have not seen any link to where Ryan ever said that. And if Erik didn't want to destroy Wakanda, he would not have ordered the burning of the source of power for future Black Panthers, kill or try to kill T'Challa's family members (which by the way, are also his own), loved ones and followers, and he wouldn't outright state that he doesn't care if Wakanda is destroyed so long as the world feels the same pain he felt, and that doesn't account for all the kills he tallied on his body (including that of his "own brothers and sisters on this continent."), him having worked alongside Wakanda's most hated enemy and killed not just him, but his own girlfriend as well. If he says it is lost and yet has the herb burned, which would make it even more lost with no kings after him, what do you think he gains from doing so? Righting the wrongs? How does that act make things better for anyone? As for not using other means to want to burn the world, you could say the same thing about not using other ways to change the status quo and end black oppression. (like the solution that T'Challa ends up using at the end of the movie to try to achieve that) There's a reason his own character page lists Killmonger as a NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist. He spilled it out in the final battle his true motivation when he dismisses being called out on how his plan would destroy the world, Wakanda included, because the world took everything from "him".
251** To put it another way, Erik's plan of "arm the oppressed" seems remarkably similar to the CIA's own plan of arming rebel leaders in foreign countries like Osama Bin Laden. And look how well THAT turned out.
252** Except Wakanda can defend themselves against their own technologies. Arming the oppressed is a means to an end. Millions of soldiers creating chaos and death armed with the latest technology. The goal is mass destruction from multiple sources, which in the end leaves massive casualties against their enemies. Anarchy, mass death, precision attacks backed by Wakanda technologies. Either Wakanda survives to sweep in after the World is left in ruins or Wakanda deals [[{{PyrrhicVictory}} so much continuous damage over time that even in defeat Killmonger has won.]] Global sedition under normal cirumstances would take a while to plan . However the fact remains Wakanda intelligence already [[{{CrazyPrepared}} had agents around the World accessing possible threats and assets.]] The main thing about Killmonger's plan is that Eric specialty is creating sedition and destabilizing governments. He has [[{{LongGame}} spent years training for it, gathering intelligence and possible targets. Literally since he was a kid he has set this plan into motion]]. Add the arsenal and technology in front of him. A massive operation on a Global scale is not only possible but thanks to his experience guaranteed a successful first strike.
253** If history's aggressors only waged war when guaranteed victory we would have far fewer wars.
254** True, however a sneak attack from multiple vantage points, back by intelligence and superior weaponry would cause enough chaos and confusion not to mention confused fighting between nations to give an edge towards victory. However maybe the plan was not to win a war directly, maybe it was to cause enough chaos, fear and retaliatory action that the Nations of the world would end up doing the job for him. Something that would appeal [[MisanthropeSupreme more to Killmonger]] then taking on the world directly, just [[WhileRomeBurns light the match and let human nature, suspicion and paranoia do the rest .]] Then after letting Nations weaken each other with wars due to confusion, geo-political, historic, ethnic and tribal rivalries sweep in with Wakandian technology and assets and rule what’s left. Let them do the hard work, let them burn it all down and leave Wakanda to rule the ashes.
255[[/folder]]
256
257[[folder:New heart-shaped herbs]]
258* All the heart-shaped plants are gone. How will future generations of Black Panthers gain their powers to protect their people?
259** They could create an artificially-made alternative (similar to the Super Soldier Serum) that serves the same function and considering their technological stage, they might be able to pull this off. Nonetheless, that is quite a destructive blow to their culture.
260** Either way, an artificial replacement for the Heart-Shaped Herb cannot fulfill the spiritual aspect of the Black Panther ritual. A Super Soldier Serum-esque process can't be reversed like the Black Panther powers. Though future Black Panthers may have a new source of power, the legacy and tradition of the Black Panther is dead ''forever''.
261** They might have a seed store for the herb. The Soviets had that tech in [=WW2=], so the Wakandans should have the ability to do so. Having a few seeds stored isn't an unreasonable precaution to a non-fire based issue, including disease and unexpected weather or pests.
262** Some of the plants might actually grow back from the roots. It isn't unheard of for a plant to survive burning and start growing a new stem.
263** If there's some intact plant tissue left from when they made the drink from the last Heart-Shaped Herb, it may be possible to repopulate it from that; real-world scientists have been able to clone plants via callus culture for decades.
264** Alternatively, Bastet Herself will eventually return in Wakanda's time of need, giving life to new herbs.
265** Also, T'Challa should just piss in a jar. Even if all active ingredients were absorbed, the plant's genetic material will end up in his bladder the same day.
266** Also, after ''Infinity War'', Wakanda will know a guy who has been shown on screen to have the power to in a localized fashion reverse time for all sorts of things, including plant matter.
267** It could be that the heart-shaped herbs can be found in the wilderness somewhere.
268** They have been cultivating the herb for decades...if not centuries, and there are many ways to insure the continuation of an essential crop in cases of crop destruction. Everything from a mother plant in another location, to seed stores, seedlings grown in another location then transplanted into the garden, to Shuri cloning the plant and not considering any natural defense the plant itself has in case of fire to insure survival. We also need to consider that Killmonger wasn't the most popular of people in Wakanda, and there is no guarantee that the Priestess/Gardener told the truth when Kilmonger asked if that was the complete store of the herb.
269** Worth noting is that the Wakandans had good reason beforehand to not allow large growth of the heart-shaped herb in their city or in the wild. If anyone outside of the Black Panther got a chance to eat it, even a wild animal, it could lead to major problems and destruction.
270** At the rate the technology of the Black Panther suits is advancing, in another generation the plants probably would've been redundant anyway.
271[[/folder]]
272
273[[folder:Xhosa in Wakanda]]
274* So Wakandans speak Xhosa, an existing and living language in Africa, which is great to see. But, Xhosa is spoken in the continent's south, mainly in South Africa with some prominence in Zimbabwe. What's it doing in Wakanda, which is a landlocked country in the center-east of Africa? T'Chaka's actor John Kani is South African and a speaker, but in-universe, what's that language doing in Wakanda?
275** Wakanda seems to be an amalgam of African cultures (I'm no expert, but I've noticed architecture from several different cultures in Wakanda). Given what we know about Vibranium and its effects on the life, it could be that Wakanda is actual cradle of humanity in MCU, and both worship of Bast and Xhosa language actually come from Wakanda.
276** While the prologue attempts to paper it over, the nation was built on conquest and war like every other empire before they decided they had nothing further of value to learn or take from the outside world, sealed the doors (like Japan and China tried to do in real life), and became a VestigialEmpire. It's likely that the region was settled by Wakandans that were left outside the gates.
277** There's no cause to assume this is the first time Wakanda has ever had an internal succession dispute, either. Possibly a previous turnover of the throne resulted in the losing candidate's supporters opting to leave the country altogether, and they headed as far south as they could to put some distance between themselves and the victor they disliked and/or feared.
278[[/folder]]
279
280[[folder:Xhosa and English]]
281* Why do Wakandans randomly switch between Xhosa and English when they're speaking to each other? If they spoke English to each other and Xhosa in the presence of foreigners, it could be chalked up to {{translation convention}} (and we might assume that Everett Ross happens to speak Xhosa since he's a CIA agent who focuses on that part of the world), but even among themselves they randomly switch between Xhosa and English.
282** That's not too far fetched. In the Philippines native speakers constantly switch between English and Tagalog even amongst themselves. It's likely that English could be ingrained in Wakanda's linguistic education since it's shown that Wakanda May be isolated, but it's certainly globally savvy enough to keep itself ahead.
283** Notice ''when'' they start speaking Xhosa (out of universe). It's only for traditional songs or chants. In other words, when the audience needs to recognize that there's something specific to Wakandan culture going on. Presumably they speak Xhosa/Wakandan to each other when there's nobody around, but since the movie is focusing on them we hear English.
284** In the very first scene, T'Chaka uses the phrase "baby brother" in Xhosa (twice, as I recall). My guess is that it's probably a gesture of affection and a reminder of their shared heritage, and the King really is speaking English the rest of the scene; but it's possible this is meant to call out that the rest of the conversation is in Xhosa, but we're hearing English due to TranslationConvention. Or else, like many who speak two languages, T'Chaka (and the rest of the Wakandans in the film) switches back and forth sometimes. Certain phrases are easier to say in some languages than in others, getting more subtle meanings across; some concepts don't translate at all across languages, the best one can do is approximate.
285[[/folder]]
286
287[[folder:Laboratory Glass]]
288* Force-fields aside, Wakandan weapons seem to be pretty effective even against vibranium. That hover-jet thingie blew cargo planes with one shot. Yet a glass in the lab hold against combat flyer's barrage for a surprisingly long time, for some reason. And its not that force-field is deflecting it either, as we see the glass crack. Why does a peaceful technology lab need such powerful windows (with integrity monitor no less) and why don't they make flyers of said glass?
289** It's mentioned that Vibranium can be volatile in its raw form and the lab is directly above the mining operation. Combined with the highly sensitive and potentially dangerous experiments going on and they probably felt it was for the best to reenforce the structure to ensure it could not be robbed or destroyed.
290** Given that she makes weapons in that lab, including the new Black Panther armor with its explosive redirect ability, the re-enforcements may be to protect in the opposite direction.
291** As for why other things aren't made out of the glass: it's probably multiple layers of an extremely dense form of a Vibranium alloy given it's strength. Good for buildings with potentially dangerous experiments going on in it, but far too heavy for vehicles meant to actually move and fly.
292** Worth noting is that the Wakandan fighters fire pulses that seem to resemble the sonic spear and cannon blasts seen earlier. So they may be sonic shots that aren't as effective on the glass because it's made out of a different material. Shuri likely wouldn't want a vibranium-built window because the sonic train rails nearby would result in the window being disabled every time they pass.
293[[/folder]]
294
295[[folder: Wakanda War Rhinos]]
296* Wakanda has trained and armored war rhinos that serve as juggernauts in combat, and in one scene Okoye stands in front of one to stop it mid charge, demonstrating unflinching faith in its training. Problem: Rhinos are notoriously ill-tempered, and more importantly, they have very poor eyesight. It's unlikely that the rhinos would be able to visually distinguish between friend and foe, especially in the heat of battle. Was the rhino reacting to the color of her uniform, or something else?
297** Vibranium eyesight surgery? Vibranium tranquilizers? Plain old selective breeding? (plus vibranium).
298** The rhino species used are very obviously white rhinos, which are the most social of the rhino species. Not yet tested if they follow orders, but they at least are friendly to people they know.
299** It's possible that the rhino didn't stop on its own, but rather that W'Kabi stopped it because he couldn't bring himself to run down his girlfriend. Then the rhino recognized her from two inches away and happily licked her.
300** It's also entirely likely, given Wakanda's incredible advancements which have them decades ahead of the modern world and probably ''thousands'' of years ahead of the world until the modern period, that these aren't tamed wild rhinos but a selectively-bred, domesticated subspecies--the dogs to wild rhinos' wolves. It's not exactly realistic given how domestication works in real-life, but this ''is'' a universe that has super soldier serums, gods, aliens, and metals that can be woven into clothing, after all.
301** Rhino vision is pathetic, but their sense of ''smell'' is quite impressive. It probably knows what each of its human friends smell like, and sound (and taste; hence, the lick for verification) like as well.
302* Second question: Why war rhinos at all? I mean, I could understand if these war rhinos were a ceremonial animal, but at this point they have stealth hoverships with laser guns and stuff. So... why? Seriously, it's like a modern army using actual horses in battle. No, wait, an army 100 years in the future still using horses. That's just... animal cruelty.
303** Scare value, maybe? A war rhino might not be as dangerous as a hovership with laser guns, but in the MCU, it's probably less expected and catches the enemies off guard. Having something shoot at you from above is expected, having an armored rhino run your direction is not.
304** Remember, the War Rhinos are used by the border tribes, aka the people responsible for keeping the borders of Wakanda secure. If every would-be intruder to Wakanda was blown away by an invisible hover jet firing sonic lasers, Wakanda's secret would be out pretty darn quick. The War-Rhinos are a convincing surface defense to protect their national secrets.
305** Except that nowadays, being seen using rhinos in combat against outsiders would only attract ''more'' unwanted attention to Wakanda, because conservationists worldwide would start screaming bloody murder about the abusive misuse of a highly-endangered species. I'd chalk it up to a tradition left over from the bad old days, that's been kept up purely for ceremonial cavalry parades and to preserve the nation's rhino population in peaceful captivity. The only reason riders were deployed in this particular battle was because it's Wakandans vs. Wakandans - no outside witness, give or take a foreign agent or two - and because the Border Tribe already had their cavalry arrayed in the field to show off their tribe's elevated status under Killmonger.
306[[/folder]]
307
308[[folder:Border guards]]
309* Wakandans have safeguarded their treasures from those who seek to plunder it. That is fair enough, but what about well-meaning explorers or those that discovered it by accident?
310** Presumably they were turned back by the Border Tribe, who are masquerading as peaceful rhino farmers for that exact reason (otherwise they'd wear vibranium plate armor, methinks).
311** Sheep farmers, not rhino, surely. They wouldn't want Wakanda overrun by conservationists looking for new genetic lines to preserve an endangered species, after all, any more than by wannabe vibranium-miners; the armored rhinos would be kept out of sight until a serious threat arises.
312** It's stated that Wakanda exists in its own little enclave thanks to a formidable mountain range, and a thick jungle/forest. Granted, some of said jungle is holographic or otherwise penetrable by Wakandan aircraft, but it's probably at least partly real flora. It's a very difficult place to access accidentally.
313[[/folder]]
314
315[[folder:Missing Avenger]]
316* What the hell is Captain America doing while all this is happening? He was in Wakanda at the end of ''Civil War'', right? Couldn't T'Challa have called him in during the final battle or something?
317** Cap may have left Wakanda after ensuring Bucky was in good hands.
318** Probably breaking the other Avengers out of the Raft.
319** This actually strikes me as the most likely. The movie takes place a week after the events of ''Civil War'' and over the course of only a few days. The opening sequence probably takes place hours, maybe a day after ''Civil War'''s stinger showing Cap dropping off Bucky in Wakanda. While Cap is going to be based in Wakanda come ''Infinity War'', we see that not all of the rogue Avengers are - Wanda's apparently living with Vision somewhere & Scott's back in California - so after breaking them out he presumably helps them relocate before heading back to Wakanda, by which time the events of this movie are settled & done with.
320** Threats of Killmonger destabilizing the rest of the world aside, the conflict in this movie was fundamentally an internal Wakandan dispute. Having a random CIA agent tagging along was provocative enough, let alone America's trademark super; T'Challa needs to clean house with minimal outside assistance if he's to prove himself competent to protect and rule his nation.
321** Cap is traveling around the world with Natasha and Sam, gathering Chitauri weaponry from gangs as seen in the pre Infinity War comic. He probably just dropped off Bucky then left to do his thing, helping the world.
322[[/folder]]
323
324[[folder:Prince N'Jobu's Death]]
325* Killmonger discovered his father's body when he was a little boy but how did he know exactly that King T'Chaka killed him? Although his father would have told him about Wakanda and possibly the Black Panther identity, he could not have fully confirmed that T'Chaka did the deed. Plausible deniability?
326** He saw the Wakandan ship, and he saw that his dad died from claw wounds. There's really only one possibility.
327** Good point. But remember it was cloudy and all Erik saw was lights in the sky. Remember Erik never went to Wakanda and he said that when his father told him about his homeland, he thought they were 'fairy tales'. Though they have may have been claw marks, there could have been a number of bladed weapons that may have done could have done that. T'Chaka did not claw N'Jobu but stabbed him. But fair play.
328*** He didn't mean 'fairy tale' in the sense of 'not true'.
329** He says to the tribal council that he saw his father's body with marks from panther claws in it.
330** They don't actually show N'Jobu's wound - obviously they couldn't, it's a [=PG=]-13 movie - but the near-instantaneous speed with which T'Chaka strikes is surely meant to demonstrate that he, too, has the Black Panther's superhuman reflexes at the time. This does make it ''look'' like more of a stab than a slash, but only because a normal man would've taken longer to slash rather than jab.
331** Erik is stated to be extremely smart, and it wouldn't exactly take a genius to put the clues together. Even if he didn't quite believe the stories before, seeing blatant evidence of them in a public place with other witnesses probably erased his doubts. He sees flying lights from a nearly invisible ship that his father's likely described in detail. Dad's wound looks like a panther's claw, despite dying in an apartment in the middle of an urban city with literally no evidence of any large wild animals around; N'Jobu was proud of his country, there's no way he wouldn't have told his son about the Black Panther's cultural history, powers, and the fact that the title belonged to his own brother. The evidence was circumstantial, but with the knowledge Erik had, it was the most logical conclusion.
332** The role of Black Panther is sacrosanct in Wakandan culture. It's likely that ''nobody'' but the King would ever dare to use a claw-like weapon, and a non-Wakandan enemy wouldn't use claws at all.
333[[/folder]]
334
335[[folder:Killmonger’s Revenge]]
336* Killmonger was trained to be an elite Black-Ops CIA assassin that has extensive knowledge of Africa. It is not a leap of faith to presume that he would have known that King T’Chaka would have stepped down as the Black Panther and passed on the mantle to T’Challa. Why wouldn’t he have tried to covertly assassinate T’Chaka at this point and then announce himself as the potential heir of Wakanda? It’s clear that T’Challa had more experience with the superpowers given to him by the Heart-Shaped Herb and that’s what ultimately led him to defeat Killmonger. Maybe if he attacked earlier, he could have realised his dreams?
337** Up until that point, he never had an opportunity. If T'Chaka was in Wakanda, it would be impossible to kill him. On the rare occasions he left, killing him would make international news. Remember that the outside world (except for SHIELD) doesn't even know the Black Panther exists until this movie, let alone who it is; there would be no way Erik could find out anything about him. He needed a chance to get into the country, and killing Klaue was the only way to get that chance.
338[[/folder]]
339
340[[folder:Wakanda outreach programs]]
341* Why is it treated as an unprecedented event that Wakanda, by T'Challa's actions, is finally offering aid to the outside world, when the "straw that broke the camel's back" in Civil War was the destruction of a Wakandan mission in Lagos? [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3498820/quotes/qt2907581?mavIsAdult=false T'Chaka himself states at the Vienna summit that]] a) Wakanda felt responsible for its vibranium being used as a weapon, that b) the mission in Lagos came from a country "too long in the shadows", and c) that despite the incident they will continue to help "the world they wish to join". It's unlikely he, even as king, would make such an monumental decision without consulting the Council, and it's also unlikely Wakanda would go, "Welp, the outsiders killed our king when he tried to reach out, better pull back and undo his work," and let his death be in vain (especially ''after'' he let the world know about Wakanda's vibranium.)
342** As far as the world knew, that chunk of vibranium that Ultron used was all Wakanda had. It's perfectly reasonable to decide that maybe joining the global community isn't the best idea after your monarch is assassinated. T'Chaka may not even have been going to break the {{masquerade}}, at least fully. He could have been offering small amounts of aid, which the Council decided to rescind after the bombing. T'Challa decided to reveal ''everything''.
343** It's also entirely possible [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness that this is just an artifact of an earlier part of the drafting]] for the Wakandan world-building; at the time, the filmmakers and wider MCU creative team may not have meant for Wakanda to be as absolutely secretive and pretending to be a desperately poor third world country, and that T'Chaka was already leaning toward a reveal. When the time came for the final draft of the ''BP'' movie, they decided to repackage things so that there's a more obvious conflict between tradition and moving forward, and so that T'Challa can get the credit for truly revealing Wakanda to the world.
344* The Wakandan Mission in Lagos was most likely just a decoy as the country still presented itself as a bunch of poor farmers. It and similar programs were most likely more of a safe house for their spies than anything else. This time around they will be sharing Wakanda's actual culture and technology not just the front.
345** Sure, Wakanda had a mission before T'Challa's announcement. It provided occasional aid to needy neighbors and negotiated trade ... of textiles and sheep. That's what a humble farming nation like Wakanda has to offer, isn't it?
346[[/folder]]
347
348[[folder: How The Hell Did That Ancient Vibranium Axe End Up Outside Wakanda?]]
349* So Wakanda is the most powerful country on Earth and it's clear it has been so since before colonialism started. They also are very protective of the source of their power, vibranium. Wakanda is also highly isolationist so it's not like they took vibranium with them to other parts of the world. So how exactly does a Wakandan Vibranium tool end up in the hands of an outside tribe?
350** Maybe a Wakandan spy had a weapon (it was disguised like a pick axe, after all) during their mission, but was caught and overpowered by the local warriors who kept it as their own? That could explain why it was misidentified as coming from a completely different area.
351** Related to this: the axe definitely ''is'' hundreds of years old (at the very least, it was recovered during the 19th century and may be even older), and Wakanda is shown making some further technological strides courtesy of Shuri even in the film; presumably, at the time the axe was lost, Wakandan technology just wasn't as advanced and/or operating practices were different, and as a result the recovery efforts after a failed op just weren't as efficient and the axe fell through the cracks. It can even be down to simple human error, especially in a time when Wakandan tech wasn't as advanced - at the end of the day (and as the movie drives home), the Wakandans are still as human as anyone.
352** Or maybe a War Dog centuries ago was equipped with that axe to help them blend in with the locals in Benin, but unexpectedly died of natural causes or by accident. If the spy was traveling anonymously, their possessions could've wound up in non-Wakandan hands, and by the time their failure to report back was noticed, tracking down the axe was impossible.
353** Alternatively, a War Dog dropped it during an operation. They are technologically advanced, not infallible.
354** Another possibility is that Wakanda was less isolationist at the time, and was willing to trade vibranium tools for other things it needed.
355[[/folder]]
356
357[[folder:Killmonger's afterlife]]
358* So, he seems to kill T'Challa in the ritual combat, and becomes King. But then, T'Challa is back, and claims that Killmonger is not really the king, because he's still alive and had never surrendered. At the end of the story, Killmonger does die, which finally ends the long ritual combat. However, this combat is likely a completely unprecedented one: instead of a single fight at the falls, one of the combatants is wrongly considered dead, and the other is proclaimed victor and granted the herbs. Does he go down in history as one of Wakanda's kings? Will he appear in the afterlife alongside the other kings?
359** Technically yes he was king, since the assumption was T'Challa died. History is written by the winners, so maybe he'll be acknowledged as king or maybe T'Challa will ensure he is always remembered as a usurper.
360** If Killmonger's vision is any indication, he'll spend his afterlife in that Oakland apartment with his dad.
361[[/folder]]
362
363[[folder:Vibranium mouth tattoo]]
364* All Wakandans have glowing vibranium tattoos on the inside of their mouths. Killmonger received a vibranium tattoo from his father as a child, so why didn't anyone notice it as he grew up? At some point during childhood, Killmonger would have received a dental checkup, so wouldn't a dentist have noticed the glowing lower lip? Even if poverty prevented Killmonger from getting dental care as a child, wouldn't he have received a dental exam at some point in his military career, allowing a dentist to notice? Didn't anyone ask him questions about this or investigate the tattoo's origin?
365** Probably anyone who saw it wrote it off as some kind of gang symbol.
366** Which would be a red flag in military service. Plus I think most doctors would know that that kind of glowing from a tattoo isn't possible much less from a gang.
367** It's possible that they only start glowing when the wearer grabs their own lip.
368** Or the War Dogs have something like mouthwash that can mask the glow temporarily.
369[[/folder]]
370
371[[folder:Keeping the Jabari as Allies]]
372* We see near the end that M'Baku has become a member of Wakanda's council, and we know that the Jabari will help fend off Thanos' forces in Infinity War. That said, how is T'Challa managing their alliance when he's just opened the border to outsiders? The Jabari already oppose Wakanda's modernization and flagrant use of vibranium tech; they're not going to be thrilled with outsiders suddenly taking interest in their nation.
373** Its possible that after having witnessed the suffering Killmonger caused and learned all the details regarding what led to his rise to power, that M'Baku decided to take a less extreme stance on adhering to tradition and isolation. It's also possible T'Challa gave some concessions to the Jabari regarding some of their grievances. At the very least M'Baku may have realized that as a member of the council he will at least have a bigger say in things than he did before.
374** The Jabari are traditionalist who don't really like Vibranium. I don't see why M'Baku would be against them shipping it OUT of Wakanda. Also it appears that M'Baku has taken W'Kabi's place on the council as head of security and so his job is to protect Wakanda, plus he can be a moderating voice on the council. You can do more to help your cause working within the system than hiding on a mountain.
375** We don't see enough of the Jabari's daily lives to know what level of technology they ''do'' consider acceptable. For all we know, they may consider outsiders' way of life to be on par with their own, in contrast to the other tribes': remember, by mainstream Wakandan standards, ''we're'' as "primitive" as the Jabari are! Heck, M'Baku might even become an advocate ''for'' outsiders' viewpoint, arguing for a slow and careful dissemination of knowledge that preserves ''our'' traditions from being smothered by a flood of change.
376** The Jabari fortress seems to have electric lighting, so they're not completely against technology. Also, when M'baku first appears in the film, one of his complaints is that T'challa couldn't even save his own father, so he is a weak leader. After T'challa defeated him and encouraged him to surrender so he could continue to lead his people, that opinion seems to have changed. In general, the Jabari seem more concerned with preserving their own way of life then forcing it on others, given that everyone was surprised by M'baku showing up to challenge, and the origin story for Wakanda says that the Jabari disagreed with the Black Panther and left: they didn't try to start something, they just left. Now T'challa has given M'baku a seat on the council so his tribe gets as much of a say as the others, which presumably means that he got a chance to discuss the issue before the decision is made.
377[[/folder]]
378
379[[folder:Has T'Challa Doomed Wakanda?]]
380* At the end of Black Panther, T'Challa decides to reveal Wakanda's technological might to the world. Although this was an extremely noble act on paper, if his world is anything like ours, he may have inadvertently destroyed Wakanda's peace & security for the following reasons:
381## Technology - Wakanda's technological marvels are unlike the world have ever seen & potentially have the power to completely revolutionise almost all industries. But not all industries will be happy with this. Think about the Transport Industry. With Vibranium powered trains, cars & planes, this would potentially destroy all vehicles that run on petrol. Millions of jobs could be lost & whole economies decimated. This will send shockwaves through the economy & could trigger massive uncertainty. This could throw the World Economy into a recession that they could never get out of. Big companies will not take kindly to this, & fight against these changes.
382## Military - Presuming that MCU has a similar world to ours, T'Challa has effectively announced that they are the new global superpower. The Security Council I.e the USA, China, Russia, France and UK may become a little scared that this small unknown country now has military muscle to stand up to all of them on the global stage. What if T'Challa sided with a nation that they were not too fond of? Also considering how they elect a king i.e the waterfall fight ritual means that a very strong but either mad/stupid/crazy man can come to the throne & be in charge of the most powerful nation on Earth, will send chills down the spines of all Security Agencies. As been proven with Killmonger, all it takes is the wrong person on the throne & it's curtains. They may between themselves agree that 'Regime Change' or a 'democratic government' is best for Wakanda to keep this new Super Power in check. Wakandan weaponry will trigger a new potential Arms Race to counter the 'Wakandan Threat' similar to nuclear weapons in the Cold War.
383## Vibranium - This metal outside the Infinity Gems is the most powerful stuff on Earth. Until now we have been told that it is incredibly rare. Now T'Challa has revealed there is literally a mountain of the stuff in his country. Governments, global companies & criminal/terrorist organisations will all want to get their hands on this miracle metal leaving Wakanda open to wave after wave of attack, political intrigue & threats of war. Look at the Iraq War in our world as an example.
384** Well, I think one major factor may be that the US might protect Wakanda. Remember that T'Challa gained the trust and friendship of Everett Ross, who more than likely is very influential in the US government. It's quite likely that Wakanda might become allies with the US, which is already right there a big country to deal with. Yes, the vibranium will be more exposed to the world, and there will be more people that try to take the vibranium on their own. Keep in mind though that only Ulysses Klaue has ever escaped attempting to do this. Imagine how hard it would be for others to do this.
385** Waging open warfare would be frowned upon, especially against a country with extremely powerful armament (even if they would inevitably lose against the world's combined military might, the casualties would probably be high enough to make invasion an unworthy risk). Most likely other world superpowers would divert efforts into an arms race, which would give just enough time for war preventions to be planned.
386** In a less cynical world, such as the MCU, it would be pointed out that history has shown that conquest and colonialism is not only morally wrong, but is impractical. It is far less expensive and more productive to simply buy an important resource from a stable state that can provide it than attempting to form a stable state to pillage from. Stable states with wealth of their own means a less expendable product and a reliable economic ally. It is more likely that nations would be far more interested in assisting Wakanda and retaining positive relations than attempting to invade. When someone is offering you what you want and more in the future, you don't kill the golden goose. The form of succession and non-democratic government will be concerning for many, but as Relations with non democratic states such as China shows, compromises in the hope of promoting future change is possible.
387** The rest of the world also has its own miracle technologies that are slowly spreading, namely a lot of the non-Iron Man stuff Tony Stark has come up with, be it Arc Reactors, paralysis treatments, incredible prosthetics, etc. Wakanda's technology is still revolutionary but not as much in the MCU as it would be in the real world.
388** This. The MCU world's economy is being overturned by fantastic new technologies ''already'', whether Wakanda opens up or not. If anything, having it revealed now may ''help'' to ameliorate some of the unrest and uncertainty that events of the last dozen years have kicked up, simply because it can stand as an example of the '''good''' side of these discoveries and changes. "What? You're worried this new technology will put people out of work? Check out how many excellent Wakandan jobs were created when ''we'' introduced that stuff, two hundred years ago!" "Hey, why are you guys protesting that new tissue-regenerating drug as dangerous? Here, try this safer alternative, my folks used it on me when a rhino stepped on my foot when I was five." "Superheroes, 'troublemaking subversives'? Back home we've had a superhero ''in charge'' since day one, and ''we've'' kept a stable and well-off society thriving in the middle of the planet's most turmoil-plagued continent, for longer than your ancestors have known how to write!"
389** Further, we don't know if T'Challa is going to reveal absolutely everything to everyone, at least all at once. He may keep the true extent of his country's power and abilities privy to heads of nations, a few government officials, etc. for the time being.
390** The film itself pretty much confronts these points in that the fear of what could happen to Wakanda was driving the isolation. T’Challa has simply decided that, for good or ill, whatever change comes to Wakanda would be a better alternative to what isolation has brought them. They have become so concerned with remaining hidden that it had to be built on the bodies of innocents and has encouraged hatred such as in Killmonger. It's also pointed out that, with all that miracle tech mentioned above, the rest of the world will soon catch up to and surpass Wakanda, who will be left behind from their own actions. Either way, isolation was just a slow death compared to the chance of progress T’Challa is bringing.
391** We've already seen the only "mad/crazy/stupid" person who would be recognized as a legitimate challenger to the throne (at least, from outside Wakanda). From the rules as presented in this film, one evidently must be of the royal lineage or one of the five tribes in order to challenge for the throne. It would be like, to take a fanciful example, me challenging Prince Harry to a fistfight over his place in the British royal succession; I don't come from the right family, so my challenge is ineligible. Nor could I, in the MCU, fly over to Wakanda and challenge for the throne. Nor Tony Stark, or Thor, or... pick your favorite. The King could be overthrown by conquest, but not by legal challenge.
392** In the end it would make an excellent plot point for the sequel. Wakanda has mass produced cutting edge technology independent of the rest of the World. Stealth and energy technologies, power sources, nano-technology, advanced medical and computer technologies independent of the free market. While the rest of the World has had a new age of technology as seen in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' and the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' it has not really advanced into mainstream use. Not like Wakanda where [[MundaneUtility your average citizen has access to Stark level holographic technology just to watch home videos]] . Basically where the World has made advancements none compare to Wakanda which has mass produced these technological marvels easily accessible to everyone. Not only that their access to [[{{Unobtainium}} Vibranium means that they have a versatile power source]] and material. Such a place, with its technology and resources, exposed to the World will [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome eventually become a target.]] [[HiddenDepths Wakanda is an unknown superpower, with no ties or allegiance to any of the other super powers of the World]]. Realistically, any number of countries or super powers will try to form alliances. Failing that try to replace the King with [[PuppetKing someone more amicable to their way of thinking]] in order to get their hands [[{{Unobtainium}} on Wakanda's vibranium and technologies for themselves.]]
393[[/folder]]
394
395[[folder: How exactly does the Wakandan economy work?]]
396* Wakanda has a super advanced society and the people are actually live in the most advanced city with massive wealth and a very high quality of life. At the end of the film T'challa buys several buildings in America. Where does this money come from? They are isolationist and do not export any vibranium the source of their wealth. The reason why countries like Saudi Arabia and other countries with a single valuable natural resource are wealthy is because they extract that resources export it and take the profits back home. If Wakanda does not sell its vibranium and never has how do they have money to afford such a high quality of life for everyone? Before anyone says they have some type of perfect socialist state where the government simply takes care of the people with food education and healthcare, remember we see street vendors selling food in Wakanda, plus they have a "Merchant Tribe" indicating some type of internal currency exchange and T'challa can afford to buy buildings in America so they must be getting some type of revenue to afford those things.
397** Internally their high quality of life comes from the high level of technology Wakanda has.
398** Actually, a completely isolated economy ''is'' viable, as long as it has all the important stuff: the raw materials to build stuff from, a sizable and knowledgeable workforce capable to keep all and each activities running (resource extraction, refining, production, sale, general services, education, work training, etc.), and a big and wealthy population to consume those productions and keep the economic activity going on. In real life, isolated economies usually fail because they miss or underestimate the missing of one of those things.
399** Vibranium itself may not be traded, but with vibranium-based technology to draw upon, select War Dogs undercover in the business spheres of foreign societies can probably bring in plenty of revenue: auctioning high-end "antiques" crafted and pseudo-aged with vibranium nanites, cranking out software that takes five minutes on a Wakandan AI system that competitors would need months to develop, selling a bag of charcoal briquettes from the supermarket B-B-Q aisle that were turned into instant diamonds with vibranium mass-compressors, etc. Just because they're not selling the vibranium doesn't mean they can't flog all sorts of stuff they can produce ''using'' it through shell companies and intermediaries.
400*** IIRC, Wakanda is right next to South Africa, which is historically a major diamond-producing country. Wakandan agents could easily offload billions of dollars in synthetic gems (which would be crazy easy to produce with nanotech and vibranium force-manipulation) and purchase anything Wakanda needs in the way of imported resources, all without any kind of paper trail.
401*** Also there are plenty of natural resources that a nation of farmers could reasonably produce for sale (food, wool, jungle woods, traditional African artwork etc). The only difference is that Wakanda requires a lot less labor to produce them than would be expected so they can produce realistic quantities of export goods without significantly impacting their internal economy.
402[[/folder]]
403
404[[folder: Does Wakanda have a caste system?]]
405* Caste might not be the right word, I don't mean caste in the way that merchants are higher than laborer warriors higher than merchants. But the four tribes in the beginning Border, Merchant, Mining, and River while the River tribe really gives no indication on what they do exactly (Fish?) The Border tribe guard the border and act as the military the Merchants presumably deal with the economy and Mining with mining the vibranium. If you are born a border tribe member can you not become a merchant? These tribe names are presumably not the original tribe names but ones assumed over generations of them taking over certain aspects of society since the Jabari are still called Jabari most likely their original name. So are people stuck in the roles based on what their family does with little to no social mobility?
406** While social mobility may be overall limited, not everyone in the tribe does the job stated in the tribe name. There's no medical tribe, but Wakanda has to have doctors.
407** Perhaps the difference between being from this or that tribe is akin to the difference between being from this or that state in the US. Just a legal system to categorize the people, and perhaps the source of some petty rivalry in sports, but without any real consequences on actual life.
408*** Similarly, you may be more inclined to protect the border if you are from the Border tribe, and so forth, in the same way that if you were born in a state with a lot of farmers, you are more inclined to become a farmer--it's not that you aren't allowed to do something else, it's just that that's what you know how to do.
409** Having four major tribes in one country is actually [[RealityIsUnrealistic DOWNPLAYING things.]] The idea of "one country = one ethnicity" is extremely recent--North America had hundreds of indigenous tribes before colonialism wiped most of them out, and there are still nearly 600 RECOGNIZED tribes in the modern day. The Philippines has ''175 ethnicities,'' and the island of Luzon has six major groups with several more minorities, so Wakanda is right on the money. Hell, since Wakanda only has ONE of its tribes being openly argumentative and reclusive (the Jabari), Luzon and its dozen feuding tribes would wonder what the hell is in the water to make them all be so ''nice'' to each other.
410[[/folder]]
411
412[[folder:Leaving Killmonger behind]]
413* I understand that, after killing his brother, T'Chaka left his nephew behind to keep the secrecy about Wakanda. But... how so? How could that secrecy be in jeopardy by taking and adopting the small kid? I can understand it if he was an adult or a young adult, but at his age he may not run away to some other country and reveal the secret, he can be easily be kept under control while they educate him and teach about the importance of keeping the secret. As for other people, the mysterious death of a guy and the mysterious disappearance of his kid would hardly ring any bells about the involvement of some hidden nation, it could easily be misunderstood by the police as just a terrible but otherwise mundane crime.
414** The kid was only half Wakandan, so he was an outsider. That had more to do with it than any practical reason.
415** As shown in the film T'Chaka was acting on reflex to a threat and killing his brother was an accident, guilt about facing his crime may have also played a factor in his choice to leave him behind. Bringing Kilmonger to Wakanda would have brought up A LOT of unpleasant questions, about what happened that night not to mention trying to explain to a young boy what happened to his father and why. Not to mention the whole "Bringing in Outsiders" Killmonger was ROYAL BLOOD, and the king himself was reluctant to bring him home. Goes to show how much of a risk it was for T'Challa to bring Bucky and Ross in for medical treatment.
416** Exactly, the kid is not a random stranger, he has royal blood. It clearly justifies making an exception. There may be many spies, but I don't think there are many kids with Wakandan royal blood abandoned to their own luck at foreign countries.
417** Do we even know for sure if Erik's mother was still around at that point? If she was - or if T'Chaka ''thought'' she was, because his brother hadn't told him she'd left or died - then he may have assumed separating the boy from his ''Mom'' would only compound the damage of depriving him of his father. And he certainly couldn't justify bringing ''her'' to Wakanda.
418** If T'Chaka had made an honest mistake in assuming Erik's mother was alive, he would've said so when confronted as a spirit, and T'Challa would have no real reason to be angry. But all T'Chaka can really offer in his own defense is that Erik was an outsider, which is nonsense; even when he shows up decades later as an adult, Americanized through and through, no one seriously questions his right to try and claim the throne. Not even someone as traditional and legalistic as Okoye, who would ''love'' to have an excuse to rebel against him when he wins. Either T'Chaka was just paranoid to the point of absurdity or, perhaps more likely, he simply couldn't bear the thought of having to raise someone whose father he had just killed. If he abandoned Erik not even out of misguided concern for his country, but to avoid having to confront his own feelings of guilt, Killmonger's resentment of Wakanda becomes that much more understandable.
419*** The whole problem with Erik challenging T'Challa is that nobody wants him to be King, but he has the legal right to challenge. T'Chaka saw that Erik was too much of an outsider to ever truly fit in in Wakanda, and decided that it would be best to leave him even though he legally is Wakandan. Well, either that or he just didn't want to face his mistakes.
420*** W'Kabi and the Border Tribe, if they're skeptical at first, clearly come around to supporting him after he brings them Klaue's body and informs them of his expansionist vision. Everyone else who isn't T'Challa's own family may not ''like'' Killmonger, but even the ones who are looking for a reason to turn on him can't until he goes overboard and burns his bridges by refusing to follow the law himself and accept T'Challa's challenge again. They may well have thought of him as an outsider initially if T'Chaka had brought him back as a boy, but they would have had no real grounds to oppose him doing so, and Erik would have assimilated enthusiastically; he can speak Wakandan just fine. So odds are T'Chaka's motives were mostly selfish.
421*** I thought the secret T'Chaka really wanted to keep was that of how his brother betrayed them and died; it would be very difficult to get Erik to keep his mouth shut about that or to otherwise explain the reason why he was there and his father wasn't to the Wakandan people. Although allowing it to be known what N'Jobu did would also risk people in Wakanda thinking he had the right idea.
422[[/folder]]
423
424[[folder:The Oakland scene at the end.]]
425* At the end of the movie, a Wakandan jet decloaks while hovering over an Oakland basketball court full of kids. The children are amazed at it and gather around. Shouldn't have they been running scared? This is a universe where alien invasion is a real possibility.
426** Kids have SkewedPriorities. If they have to choose between standing in awe at some cool thing, or run away because that cool thing is dangerous, what do you think they would do?
427** Some witnesses to the jet's arrival probably ''did'' run away. The camera just happens to keep itself trained on the ones who stayed.
428** This is also a universe where people see aliens and take out their phones, instead of running away, as seen in ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld''.
429[[/folder]]
430
431[[folder: The reason Killmonger wanting to burn the garden.]]
432* Why was Killmonger so enraged about having future kings after his death? Does he realize he is not immortal? I'm assuming he doesn't want anyone else to have super abilities and great strength, but he can't be king forever. If he dies in battle, who would take care of Wakanda?
433** The garden may be rebuilt at some later point, once he has secured his power and all potential traitors have been purged. As said elsewhere, Wakanda surely keeps seeds somewhere, and the plant should be available in the wild somewhere. But, in the short term, it makes sure that he's the only one with panther powers in Wakanda, and that the resistance won't be able to use it to give powers to some other guy regardless of the rules (which is in fact what happened, with a flower rescued beyond his knowledge)
434** The movie itself pretty explicitly says this to be evidence that he DOESN'T actually care about Wakanda's future. Not only does he say he doesn't care when T'Challa points out how making an enemy of the world could destroy Wakanda, Ross points out how what Killmonger did (burning the flowers) is based on his training in destabilizing hostile countries. Its even shown when Killmonger rejects his father's spirit asking him to make Wakanda his home. As far as Killmonger was concerned Wakanda was just a means for him to spread the pain he felt to the rest of the world, he didn't want the nation itself to have any future beyond accomplishing that goal. The idea that he was counting on there being seeds and such stored elsewhere for future kings isn't supported given as I recall the only thing he asks the woman is if all the flowers are in that chamber. Once she confirms this (whether it being entirely true or not is up to interpretation) he demands they all be burned. He likewise reacts in a mocking manner to the idea of there being future kings.
435** Plus, can you really picture Killmonger as someone who looks forward to being a father? He probably can't picture that himself. And if he can, he may want ''not'' to become one, lest he put his own kid through the same grief he'd suffered: guys who make as many enemies as him rarely expect to die of old age. Whether or not his heir can become a future Black Panther can't matter to him if he never intends for an heir exist.
436[[/folder]]
437
438[[folder: Killing his girlfriend.]]
439* I get that Killmonger is the bad guy, but what if Klaw didn't hold her at gunpoint? Was Erik planning to kill her anyway once he get what he wants? Would the wakanda people allow a non-wakanda black woman to live among them? Makes me wonder if he promised her she would be his queen once they get to Wakanda.
440** Considering how she could potentially testify before the Tribal Elders on how Erik had been helping Klaue fight ''against'' Wakandan agents right up until he shot the guy, then yes, he was probably planning to kill her too. Even if he wasn't, whatever he might have promised her, the best she probably could've hoped for would be if he left her behind, to captain one of those War Dog-led terrorist groups he'd sent weapons to.
441[[/folder]]
442
443[[folder: Did T'Challa's dad still have super powers before he died?]]
444* Shouldn't his dad had survived the explosion in Civil War? If he stripped himself of his powers, then why? Wasn't he worried about being assassinated?
445** The theory is that at this point he had chosen to give up his powers so that T'Challa could have them (the idea being that only one Black Panther is allowed to exist at a time according to their nation's laws). As for fear of assassination, given pretty much everyone in the world regarded Wakanda as a minor country, he may well have thought there wouldn't be anyone who'd want to kill him that badly (and indeed Zemo didn't really care about killing him so much as pinning the death on Bucky).
446** John Kani has a glass eye in RealLife, so if the MCU writers like the DisabledCharacterDisabledActor trope, they could incorporate T'Chaka's loss of an eye into the backstory, having him pass the role of Black Panther on to his son after he'd been injured while protecting his people.
447[[/folder]]
448
449[[folder:Wakanda Tribes]]
450* The narration at the beginning mentions 5 Wakandan Tribes, and the tribes identified in the film are: The Royal Tribe, the Merchant Tribe, the Mining Tribe, the Border, the River Tribe, and the Jabari. One of these tribes must have two names, but which ones?
451** The Royal Tribe is also known as the Golden Tribe according to interviews.
452*** Perhaps the Royal Tribe is considered separate from the 5 tribes.
453** It's likely the Royal Tribe is made out of the ruling family of whichever of the other tribes currently has a member on the throne. T'challa's second vision shows past Wakandan rulers in the garb of all four tribes sans the Jabari, so each one of them appear to have held the throne at some point until a descendant was defeated in ritual combat by another tribe's member.
454** It's implied that Wakanda isn't an ''absolute'' monarchy; the Tribes all have leaders, which collectively make up a Council of officials who advise the King and negotiate inter-Tribal disagreements. The "Royal Tribe" designation is probably a legal formality, to grant the King himself - whose ancestry may derive from any Tribe or more than one - a fifth seat on the Council: a necessity for tie-breaking, at least until the Jabari opened up and were granted a Council seat of their own.
455* The intro narration states 5 tribes SETTLING Wakanda but that was before the goddess turned one of the Warrior Shamans into the Black Panther and he became king. It said 4 of the original 5 tribes united under his rule and the Jabari separated off. Clearly at that point, after the narration stops, the Royal Tribe/Golden Tribe/Panther Tribe was formed (the descendants of the first king). If the first king had many children, and those children had many children, and all of his descendants were considered a part of the Royal Tribe, then they'd always have a pool of heirs to choose from, even if the main royal line dwindled down. For example, if T'Challa and Shuri both passed on without having children, and we know from this movie that T'Challa killed his only cousin, then the Royal Tribe would probably look at who from their tribe had the next best claim and put him forth. That's also probably why there's a challenge system in place during the coronation.
456[[/folder]]
457
458[[folder:Ancient Vibranium Refining]]
459* It's said in the film that the Wakandans have been mining and utilizing Vibranium for thousands of years. From my understanding Vibranium requires a relatively high tech-base to mine, refine, and process. So how exactly were a bunch of Stone or Bronze Age tribals able to do so?
460** They developed a lot of things earlier than other civilizations, but at least at the start they could have used Vibranium in a crude but effective manner, broken chunks as the heads of clubs, etc.
461[[/folder]]
462
463[[folder:Klaue's Brand]]
464* If they never caught him. When did they brand him with the thief mark?
465** I recall others stating that he was actually briefly captured and branded, but then escaped, and this was also when he killed a number of Wakandans. Not sure of the source on this though.
466[[/folder]]
467
468[[folder:Killmonger's Skills]]
469* Why exactly is Killmonger better at fighting with blades than T'Challa? T'Challa has lived his entire life in Wakanda, a place where they reportedly don't use guns, meaning that he's been fighting with blades for most of his life. Killmonger, on the other hand, while being an extremely skilled killer, racked up his kills while he was in the military, meaning that all if not most of those kills were all obtained through firearms. Of course, one could always use the argument that Killmonger learned how to use blades somewhere along the line, but even this would have been incredibly difficult, because, you know, people outside of Wakanda generally don't fight with melee weapons unless absolutely necessary. Not to mention that, even if Killmonger somehow did have some sort of fantastic Wakandan teacher who taught him how to fight with blades, T'Challa would still have far, far more experience. At the very least the fight shouldn't have been as much of a curb-stomp for Killmonger as it was.
470** There a couple of reasons for that. For one, T'Challa wasn't exactly in the right head space, having just learned that his father murdered his brother and the son of said brother just appeared unannounced to challenge T'Challa for the throne. That type of emotional impact is definitely going to affect him psychologically. Secondly, it's not clear how long T'Challa's been the Black Panther, but it seems like he's much more used to fighting barehanded and with superpowers than he is fighting normally, which is another major factor. As for the fight being closer, as pointed out in the Awesome page, it was: T'Challa knocked Killmonger down first, and if he hadn't offered mercy, he would've won then and there. Instead, Killmonger got back up and the rest of the fight went downhill from there.
471[[/folder]]
472
473[[folder:Korean adventure]]
474* What was Killmonger trying to accomplish in Korea? I assumed that he needed the vibranium from the museum to sell in Korea, in order to make the money to hire Klaue to take him to Wakanda. But Klaue seems completely surprised when Killmonger mentions Wakanda (to the point that Klaue takes Killmonger's girlfriend hostage and tries to shoot his way out to avoid it). And then after killing Klaue, Killmonger is able to find Wakanda on his own with no help.
475** It's possible Killmonger's Plan A was to bring Klaue to Wakanda alive, just as T'Challa had planned to do so originally, and it would have been much easier to do this if Klaue actually landed near Wakanda where Killmonger could quickly subdue him and take him along. As soon as he realized Klaue didn't intend to give him that chance (and considering how dangerous Klaue is), Killmonger was forced to quickly adapt to Plan B. As for Klaue, he was just surprised that Killmonger wanted to go to Wakanda, which he considered a death sentence for him.
476** I assumed it was all a setup--not only did Killmonger want to be the one to bring Klaue to Wakanda, he wanted T'Challa to fail at doing the same. If he'd just brought Klaue himself, that might have made him popular, but having him succeed where T'Challa failed made him look stronger, more capable, and more kingly than T'Challa.
477[[/folder]]
478
479[[folder:Shooting the planes down]]
480* Why did they have to shoot the planes carrying the weapons down? Couldn't they just call to tell the pilots that T'Challa was king again and to come back?
481** They were probably members of the Border Tribe.
482*** Also, even if they weren't, at the time the planes tried to escape, the challenge was still on - I'd imagine that during the challenge, the king temporarily forfeits any government-related powers he has (and as T'Challa pointed out, the challenge was still on).
483[[/folder]]
484
485[[folder: No checks or balances within the Wakandan government]]
486* Why doesn't Wakanda have an elected legislature or a federal high court? Or if they do, why are these branches of government powerless to stop Killmonger when he takes the throne? The point of having these branches is to overrule the executive leader when it's clear that he or she is running the country to hell. Not only would Killmonger's entire plan be dead in the water if Wakanda had checks and balances, but the country's awesomeness is marred by the fact that its citizens have no voice in their leadership. T'Challa may be a superhero, but politically speaking, he's a dictator.
487** Despite its advanced technology, Wakanda is big on tradition. It doesn't have a representative democracy because that's the way things have always been.
488** It is socially acceptable to challenge a leader in a combat to death and you think they care about democracy? Most tribes are just following the Black Panther because it's mythic empowered guardian you remove him there is no Wakanda, just diverse tribe warring each other because of how they should handle vibranium and trying really hard to not get outsiders involved.
489** That's probably what the council is for: the representatives of the different tribes advise the monarch and if they're sufficiently dissatisfied with his/her rule, they can challenge him/her for the throne (if Killmonger can challenge post-coronation, presumably the representatives of the other tribes can too). In the events of the movie, the Border Tribe supported Killmonger and the other tribes evidently didn't disapprove enough of him (or perhaps didn't want to risk a conflict with what looks like most of Wakanda's military) to challenge. It's quite likely that if Killmonger's planned war had gone badly enough, someone would have said "screw this guy, let's get someone sensible on the throne", but T'Challa stopped things getting that bad.
490** The council seemed to be terrified of Killmonger. He's a superpowered sociopath with a legion of highly trained bodyguards and the entire army behind him. No matter how much they disagreed with him, trying to fight him right then just wasn't an option. If they disagreed too loudly, he would have just killed them and moved on. Once public opinion inevitably turned against him, maybe they could have done something, but the coup happened and was subsequently put down pretty quickly. There wasn't exactly time for a popular uprising.
491** A big point of the film is that Wakanda's absolute adherence to tradition and isolationism is perhaps the nation's only real failing. It is incontrovertibly true that having a supreme executive with no oversight can lead to substantial abuses of power, and that's exactly what happens.
492
493[[/folder]]
494
495[[folder: Wakanda and its reputation with Vibranium]]
496* In the Black Panther movie, the world believes Wakanda is an isolationist Third World country with no rich resources and few exports yet in the other movies like ''Age of Ultron'' and ''Civil War'', the world knows that Wakanda is rich with Vibranium since it was the metal Ultron used in his insane plans and what Captain America's shield is made of. So why does the movie have conflicting information about Wakanda pretending to be a poor nation with nothing when in secret it's technologically advanced and rich with Vibranium when the previous movies reveal it's that one isolationist nation the world knows has the rare but expensive Vibranium? Even Bruce was able to get old records of the Klaue family rivalry with the Black Panthers online.
497** The world believes that Klaue stole all the vibranium Wakanda had.
498** Heck, the Wakandans probably played off even having vibranium with their ObfuscatingStupidity. "Yes, we have this stuff, but we poor, simple farmers have no idea how to use it, and we don't want to sell it to you for (insert deliberately obtuse, superstitious reason here)."
499** The ''world'' doesn't have all the info that we do. They might know that Ultron used Vibranium, but they ''do not'' know that Wakanda is "rich" with the stuff; they probably don't even know what Cap's shield is made of. Do not confuse [[FourthWallMyopia viewer knowledge with in-universe common knowledge]].
500** Being "rich with" a resource existing nowhere else on the planet could just as easily mean "has enough of it to (maybe) fill a car trunk" as "has a whole mountain of the stuff". Before this film, non-Wakandans had simply assumed the former.
501[[/folder]]
502
503[[folder: Erik killing a wakandan]]
504* Couldn't Erik be disqualified or immediately arrested for killing Zuri? T'Challa was still king at the time.
505** I think T'Challa would be disqualified since someone helped him but they probably are mulling it over. Zuri did say "take your revenge on me" after all.
506** It was during a legal, ritual combat for the throne, interfering probably carries the death penalty anyways.
507[[/folder]]
508
509[[folder: Magic dirt that lets you speak to the dead]]
510* The dirt that allows you to speak to dead relatives, is it connected to the meteor that crashed on earth? What is the origin of that dirt? Is it magical or science?
511** The burying seems to be symbolic of being dead. At the Gardens T'Challa and Erik are buried in dirt, but when T'Challa is with the Jabari he's just buried in snow. What takes Panthers to the Spirit World is the Heart-Shaped Herb.
512[[/folder]]
513
514[[folder: How much Vibranium in a single canister]]
515* In 1992, T'Chaka specifically states that Klaue stole a quarter-ton of Vibranium, which is a nice ContinuityNod; back in ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron'', Klaue states that his vibranium stockpile is worth "billions", and in the comics, vibranium is often quoted as being worth $10,000 per gram — a ridiculously high price, as a single gram of weapons grade plutonium is only $4,000. A quarter ton is well over 200 kilograms, so Klaue stole well over two billion dollars in vibranium. '''However''', T'Chaka then projects a [[https://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/File:BP_-_T%27Chaka_(Quarter_of_Vibranium).jpg hologram]] showing fifty-two cylindrical canisters - four rows of thirteen. A US ton is 2,000 pounds, a UK ton is 2,240, a metric ton is 2,204.622. Quartering any of those and then dividing by fifty-two results in awkward numbers; US 9.615384, UK 10.76923, metric 10.599. Which of those is a single "Wakandan unit" of Vibranium and why is that unit exactly 1/208 of a "ton"?
516** That assumes the canisters are all full to the brim, some of them may have held more vibranium than others did. If some were only 90% or 95% full for instance then it throws off the "divide by 52" idea quite a bit.
517** You're also assuming that Vibranium's -- or for that matter, any material's -- ''weight'' is related directly and neatly to its volume. The canisters are that size because that's how much ''volume'' they hold. The canisters are not that size to fit a specific ''weight''.
518** The best answer is probably that T'Chaka is rounding down; each canister contains ten pounds of vibranium, and he summed it up as "a quarter-ton" rather than "five hundred and twenty pounds" - fewer syllables.
519[[/folder]]
520
521[[folder: Was Killmonger aware of the Avengers?]]
522* Aren't the Avengers well known to the world? I get that Erik was crazy, but did he think he and his warriors would stand a chance against the Avengers?
523** You mean the same Avengers that just broke up and scattered over an internal fight, and are down to like two members and a bunch of outlaws?
524** An inaccessible nation filled with tech that rivals Stark's with means of surreptitiously arming guerrilla fighters across the globe probably would be a substantial challenge for the Avengers even if they were in fighting form. They've assembled for less.
525*** In ''Infinity War'', Tony is reluctant to call Steve even after being told about the impending threat of Thanos. Bruce has to convince him to do so, though he isn't able to before Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian show up. And that's after about two years. ''Black Panther'' only takes place about a week after ''Civil War'', when the events were still fresh.
526[[/folder]]
527
528[[folder: Is there any time/number limit on challenges to the Black Panther throne?]]
529* So it seems anyone from the local tribes can challenge the king for the right to become the Black Panther and rule Wakanda at the coronation. No one mentioned any restrictions on the time or number of challenges. If there are no limits, then couldn't, in theory, a ruler like M'Baku have just ordered a few of his soldiers to challenge T'Challa? Then if his soldiers lose, he could challenge T'Challa after, and he would have the advantage of being well-rested, while T'Challa would be tired and possibly injured from his prior fights.
530** It's ''not'' "anyone from the local tribes," it's the ruler of the local tribes, plus members of the royal family. Having a bunch of goons wear him down first would be an ''obvious'' perversion of the purpose of the whole thing and would almost certainly mean a forfeit.
531*** Okay but even with that restriction, couldn't the same issue arise? What if multiple eligible people issue challenges at the coronation? Does the BP have to fight them all on that same day?
532*** Probably. The Black Panther rules with the consent of the other tribes -- either via not challenging him, or by accepting when he wins such a challenge. If multiple eligible people from different tribes are all challenging at the coronation, that means there is a big problem with his leadership.\
533All that said, we don't have any actual information to answer this question with. All the bylaws and contingencies and what-ifs of the challenge are simply not known.
534** We don't know what would happen if there were multiple challengers. It could be as straight-forward as putting them all in the water at once, with the survivor becoming king.
535** Alternately, the defender fights one challenger at a time, and they rest and use Wakandan tech to heal back up to full strength. If multiple tribes want to challenge, they decide after each fight whether they want to challenge the victor. It's possible in that scenario that either the defender proves his mettle to the other challengers, or the challenger wins and the other challengers decide to back down because they don't have an issue with the victor.
536[[/folder]]
537
538[[folder: Why cover up N'Jobu's death?]]
539* So why exactly was N'Jobu's death at the hands of Black Panther covered up? Why did they have to "maintain the lie" as Zuri said? N'Jobu stole the vibranium and then tried to murder Zuri when Black Panther came to arrest him. That's a clear-cut case of justified homicide. Who would object to that back in Wakanda? And why would it matter if anyone did? Black Panther is king. He rules with super powers and an army at his command. Any objections to what he did would be meaningless.
540** It could be that T'Chaka didn't want his brother to be remembered as a traitor, which is why they had his death covered up. Furthermore, he was probably afraid that learning just why N'Jobu had done what he had would prompt others in Wakanda to do the same.
541** N'Jobu didn't just betray the country, his actions killed the leaders of the Border Tribe (W'Kabi's parents). This was such a massive sore spot even decades later that W'Kabi himself turned against T'Challa. If the truth about N'Jobu was known, it could have fractured the whole country. Further, the decision to abandon Erik in the US could have been seen as very self-serving, as Erik had a legitimate claim to challenge T'Challa at the transition.
542*** The thing about Erik everyone (including the movie characters) seems to ignore is that his mother was still alive. As such, his mother should have parental rights and thus Black Panther would have no valid grounds to take him to Wakanda without her consent.
543*** It's not stated in the movie, and I don't know where I read it, but Erik's mother is supposedly in prison and the job N'Jobu was planning at the beginning was to break her out. So under ordinary circumstances, T'Chaka would have taken custody anyway. But really, who's law applies here? He is the King of Wakanda so he makes the law there, and he clearly doesn't care amount American sovereignty. He sent a spy to the US who lived there so long he had a grade school-aged son with a local. He snuck across the border, armed, in a stealth warship, killed the spy (this at least was justifiable), then just leaves him there. By contrast, taking his nephew to Africa to live in luxury is a comparative good deed.
544*** Yes they could take him back to Wakanda if they wanted to, but T'Chaka seems like a fairly moral person and I would think he'd be moral enough not to commit a flat out kidnapping after killing the boy's father. Just because he can disregard that law doesn't mean he would. I find it really odd that when the characters talk about what should have been done with the boy, no one even mentions his mother in the equation at all.
545** Plus, for all we know, T'Chaka's own mother was still alive at that point. Would he really want to burden her with the knowledge that one of her sons turned traitor and was executed by the other?
546*** At least she would know what happened to her son. I would argue that was better then just thinking her son disappeared and never knowing why.
547*** Given that N'Jobu had been a spy in America long enough to raise a son, she probably would have assumed he was still on his mission.
548[[/folder]]
549
550[[folder: Why is Killmonger allowed to fight T’Challa?]]
551* Don’t they make a big deal out of the fact that tribes can only challenge Black Panther on the specific day of the coronation? If so, then why is Killmonger just allowed to waltz into Wakanda and challenge T’Challa the way he does? I don’t see why everyone else can’t just go, “Nah, you can’t do that. You’ve missed your chance!”.
552** They do so in the film: Shuri and Ramonda are quick to point out that T'Challa doesn't actually have to accept Killmonger's challenge, but the recent revelations and his own guilt compelled him to do so.
553** Ignoring the legitimate challenge of a royal who has the backing of a tribal leader would feasibly lead to long term political consequences.
554[[/folder]]
555
556[[folder: How many people did Killmonger expect to rise up?]]
557* So how many people did Killmonger expect would take up weapons and wage war against their own countries? Did he really expect every black person to go on a killing spree and targeting their white neighbors, friends and coworkers? What did he think black soldiers in the army or police officers would do? Did he really expect Rhodey and Falcon to fight against the Avengers? Both he, and the film's narrative (if we are to fear the villain's plan as an audience), assumes that everyone of African descent was ready to wage race war if given the opportunity.
558** No, neither the movie nor his plan assumes that literally every single black person in the world will instantly change allegiences. That should be obvious after a few seconds of thought. Wakanda has covert operatives around the world, who according to the plan would radicalize they people they'd insinuated themselves with and other black populations that are disenfranchised and otherwise not happy with their societal situation. He doesn't need literally every single black person on the planet, he just needs enough with high-tech weapons to cause chaos. Also, that it's a bad, short-sighted idea is kind of the point. ''That's what makes Killmonger the bad guy.''
559[[/folder]]
560
561[[folder: How advanced is Wakanda anyways?]]
562* We are told that Wakanda is extremely powerful, to the point that Killmonger and the Border Tribe apparently think they could win a world war, but what we are actually shown of their strength is much less impressive. In areas like medical aid and transportation, they are clearly far ahead, but the military is still fighting with spears and shields. Admittedly Vibranium enhanced spears and shields but still, their army seems to be at best on par with real-world militaries. Their shields can't deflect from multiple directions, they wear minimum armor so they could be riddled with bullets, and their spears might be able to defeat a tank but against infantry, they would be able to take out one squad or so and then the rest would slaughter them. They have seemingly little to nothing in the way of artillery or armed vehicles, their planes apparently require dogfighting as opposed to the miles away shooting of modern jets, and their tactics amount to running around in a mob with barely any organization. Forget numbers, I'm pretty sure that aside from the Black Panther and shield their whole military could be matched by a regiment or two of US soldiers with some artillery support and a few planes. I can excuse actual Wakandans being arrogant since they haven't warred much with the outside world, but how does Kilmonger expect to win his war? Even with foreign rebels on his side they only have so many weapons, and once the world caught on to the source Wakanda is going to be facing full-scale invasion. If even the US couldn't conquer the world, the current superpower, Wakanda doesn't stand a chance of coming even close.
563** According to the [[WordOfGod Russo's themselves]] Wakanda technology is so advanced that [[https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2455842/how-wakanda-fits-into-avengers-4-according-to-the-russo-brothers it will play a pretty important part in the MCU post Endgame .]] So pretty damn advanced It would seem.
564** They are advanced, but the rest of the world is catching up, and some off-world groups have made jumps well ahead of the Wakandans.
565** They don't seem to have space travel.
566*** Given they have sensors that detected a Q-ship in the upper atmosphere, they clearly have some form of space based assets.
567*** There is no indication that the World is catching up, not only that thanks to the Snap the World technological pace would have stood still. While Wakanda would still have its advanced technological lead to build on when things returned to normal. And Off-World groups making jumps ahead of Wakanda is a moot point because as stated below these are whole worlds and civilizations far older and more advanced then humanity as a whole, Kree, Asguard to name a few. Time is the edge allowing greater technological leaps. Wakanda is the most scientifically advanced society on Earth not the Universe.
568** Given a few years, Tony Stark makes improvements to the Iron Man Armor that is leaps and bounds ahead of the Black Panther.
569*** Tony's one of the smartest people on the planet, and even then, it's pretty telling that we only see Tony with a nanotech suit ''after'' Wakanda has opened itself to the world.
570** Both Vision and the Vulture's Gang (the latter using Chitauri Tech) have figured out how to faze through solid matter.
571*** One uses advanced alien technology, the other uses one of the six most powerful objects in the entire universe. That's hardly a fair comparison.
572** The Asgardian's have a hybrid of magic/technology that lets armies travel across the universe instantaneously AND acts as a planet destroying weapon.
573** The Nova Corps (and other spacefaring civilizations) have set up a network of Portal Jumps that allow for quick travel across the universe by space ships.
574** The Sovereign have developed a SubspaceAnsible that allows an army of drones to be controlled from lightyears away instantaneously. This puts the singular drones of Wakanda to shame.
575** Most troublingly, Thanos and his children have discovered how to ''break'' Vibranium, without the sonic tech the Wakandans use.
576*** Again, it's hardly a fair comparison here. Wakanda was stated to be the most advanced nation on Earth, not the most advanced civilization in the entire universe.
577*** The above examples are civilizations older then Earth, logically of course they are going to have advanced technology. However Wakanda has developed city shields, anti-gravity technology, nanotech used in multiple fields of military and medical necessity, remote tech override etc. All without the benefit of being part of a Universe with various advanced civilizations. Who gained their scientific advances due to having a head start on research and application by tens of thousands of years compared to Earth.
578** People seem to make the mistake that being advanced means having massive armies or weapons that can cause big explosions and that's it. Wakanda's advantages with stealth and their network of spies means that they can circumvent those armies and weapons with stealth and guerrilla tactics. If they say, went to war against America, they wouldn't have to fight the US military head on, they'd send assassins to military bases or decapitate the leadership at the White House directly. Also, what happened with the attack on Wakanda was not normal circumstances and shouldn't be taken as their standard combat doctrine. Having an entire army suddenly dropped on your capital city would be a major outside context problem to all nations on the planet, and the fact that the Wakandans were able to mobilize an entire defense force within a few minutes of their arrival is leagues beyond any other army on Earth.
579** Another reason Wakanda is on the cutting edge is that it's Head of science and research [[https://www.cbr.com/infinity-war-director-confirms-shuri-smartest-mcu-character/ Shuri is not only officially the smartest person in the MCU surpassing Tony Stark]]. But currently she is collecting multiple fields of advanced scientific research to improve and further Wakanda scientific and technological standing . While the rest of the World is still getting its bearing's after the Snap, Shuri is building on an advanced technological lead and adding more ways to pull Wakanda further and further ahead of the curve.
580** Killmonger's backstory is that he was a Navy SEAL and specifically one proficient at toppling governments. Irregular warfare is explicitly his strength. In his plan, Wakanda's War Dogs would behave exactly the way US Special Forces often do: training, arming, and directing a local resistance against the hostile government, which is part of the message of the film.
581[[/folder]]
582
583[[folder: W'Kabi's Betrayal]]
584* W'Kabi's decision to instantly turn on T'Challa never made any sense to me. The two shared a friendship that seemed to extend beyond their stations, and T'Challa jumped at the opportunity to capture Klaue. T'Challa's failure would obviously be disappointing, but it seems counter-intuitive that it would inspire W'Kabi turning away from T'Challa and embracing the man who facilitated Klaue's escape in the first place. Even if W'Kabi didn't explicitly know Erik broke Klaue out, he's smart enough to be suspicious of a man who came out of nowhere with the body of his father's killer. And even if he wasn't, supporting Erik's claim to the throne and the reordering of Wakanda's entire geopolitical mission is a huge leap.
585** In a deleted scene, Okoye points out that Erik broke Klaue out but W'Kabi isn't swayed because he feels betrayed that T'Challa took Klaue to the CIA and UN instead of bringing him to Wakanda.
586[[/folder]]
587
588[[folder: Shuri's change of outfit]]
589* Right before joining the final battle, Shuri has a complete change in her appearance. She changed her clothes, put her hair up into a bun, and has very detailed war paint all over her face. How was she able to do all of that in what appears to be 30 seconds in movie time, and why would she bother when the battle was already going? Honestly, I wouldn't even be caring about this if it wasn't for that moment earlier in the film where she made fun of T'Challa for having to physically put on his helmet. However long it took her to do all those things, it would have taken longer than it takes to put on a helmet.
590** Who says? Could be, that's ''her'' nanotech battle-gear she's decked out in, complete with nanite-applied war paint and instant hairdo.

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