This film is the second sequel after Thor: The Dark World to showcase a devastating attack on a long-impenetrable citadel and the fallout from the death of the ruling matriarch. The only difference is that while that film showed how vengeance was consuming Odin of Asgard and Thor had to take matters into his own hands to avoid further bloodshed, this film has Shuri go down the same path but ultimately forsake it.
Namor's wings are too small to lift his body up. If this was a genetic mutation, it would be accurate. But this mutation was brought on by a mystical plant from a water god. This gives weight to Namor's claims of godhood.
K'uk'ulkan in Mesoamerican myth is the god of flight, rulership, and language. All traits Namor displays in the film. Namor also uses a conch shell as a symbol, which may allude to how the conch was one of the symbols of Quetzalcoatl/K'uk'ulkan, being used in real life as an insignia on the breastplates of priests.
Talokan is lit by an underwater sun. In Aztec myth, the gods were responsible for maintaining the movement of the sun.
Toussaint's name references Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture, who was instrumental in liberating the island from French rule; the movie briefly alludes to this by stating that Toussaint is a good name for the prince, but doesn't go into detail about why this is the case.
Namor marvels at the beauty of Wakanda, reminiscing about his mother's stories of "a protected land, where people don't have to leave, where they never have to change who they are." At first glance, it appears a direct reference to the fate of his tribe: a people whose land was conquered by the Spaniards, and who had to physically change into an underwater race, leaving their former lives and land behind forever (which, as per his memory of his mother, caused them great sorrow). But it also refers to the fate of colonized peoples as a whole, whose cultures and ways of life are destroyed by imperialist powers and who are thus forced to assimilate into the conqueror's ways or face annihilation, as happened to all native cultures throughout the Americas.
The lengths Namor would go to prevent his kingdom's existence from being revealed to the outside world may feel too extreme considering Talokan's technological advantage, strategic location, and its leader's superhuman abilities would be more than enough to protect itself from ordinary would-be invaders or even Wakanda itself. However, this is a world where people like the Avengers, organizations like HYDRA, gods, monsters, aliens, and various other supernatural threats exist, and as isolated as Talokan may be, even the Talokanis would still be affected by Thanos's depopulation Snap. Knowing this, it's no wonder why Namor would go to great lengths in preventing anybody on the surface from discovering his kingdom: even he cannot protect his kingdom from everything out there.
Shuri managing to pull herself down the spear actually makes a lot of sense. Shuri built both T'Challa and Killmonger's Panther Habits, as well as her own, so of course said Habit would include at the very least minor first aid, at least until either external treatment or the healing factor is able to patch them up. Case in point, Killmonger was wounded with a stab to the heart, and only died after he removed the spear in his chest - modern medical treatment is very capable of saving someone who has suffered from a heart wound, given that the damaging object is left in the body until treatment. Shuri's Habit is likely more advanced than both T'Challa's and Killmonger's, meaning that there's probably better medical technology in hers.
Why is Shuri able to take being impaled straight through the stomach by Namor in the climactic fight as well as she did and seem generally fine in scenes taking place shortly after the battle? Most likely, once discovering how Killmonger died against T'Challa, she designed all future suits so that in case of getting stabbed, the wearer would not bleed out, having it function closer to Tony's nanotech suit when Thanos stabbed him in Infinity War.
John Walker going by U.S. Agent now makes more sense with The Reveal that Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who gave him the codename, is the director of the CIA. His former codename Captain America that was taken from Steve Rogers aligned with his former rank in the military before he was other-than-honorably discharged, while U.S. Agent aligns with his rank in the CIA.
The inexplicable fact that there's another source of vibranium outside Wakanda is Handwaved by Shuri as just "meteors striking in different places". Except, the Talokans, who live off the Yucatan Peninsula, don't just live by some meteor crater made up for the movie's lore; they live in the crater of themeteor strike. Makes perfect sense that the vibranium from the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs would give them even more unique powers than the heart-shaped herb and allow them to create a thriving underwater civilization.
Once again, the Ancestral Plane tailors itself to whomever enters. T'Challa saw the peaceful plains, showing he was at peace with his role, while Killmonger saw his childhood apartment where he found his father's body, an event he never recovered from. It makes perfect sense that Shuri would enter the throne room... where her mother died — again, a moment she needs to move past, and finally does in the end when Ramonda briefly appears in the plains.
M'Baku chewing on a carrot homages Bugs Bunny. There's no way that M'Baku would not know about Bugs Bunny's existence just because the Jabari live in the mountains. If he knows about Mayan Mythology, who to say he doesn't know about western cartoon characters?
The sort of humor he uses, often relying on playing with people's expectations and/or social rules, is also similar to Bugs.
It's likely that given his penchant for jokes and snark, M'Baku would be inspired by Bugs, one of the funniest characters in animation.
And, as mentioned in the first film, the Jabari are vegetarians.
The Mining Tribe Elder is the only one on the council who advocates against challenging Namor on the basis that he has access to vibranium and thus would not be an easy foe to defeat. Whilst this may seem uncharacteristically cowardly, it makes sense because her tribe are responsible for the mining and refining of Wakanda's vibranium and thus would have a far great appreciation and understanding of how dangerous it can be than the rest of Wakanda.
Why were the mercenaries attacking the Wakandan outreach center French and not American, the latter being a traditional player for such actions in political thrillers? France in the real world has a lot of political influence in Sub-Saharan Africa, often acting as the power that leads anti-terrorism task forces or leaning on political realities. This includes the nation of Mali, where the outreach center was located. While America does act in Africa, it isn't its immediate priority in the way it is for France. While both America and France would be equally thrown for a loop by a sudden new superpower to emerge in the world, for France, Wakanda is a much more direct competitor in its sphere of influence.
Also, America has greater geopolitical and military influence, not to mention its own superheroes and other forms of advanced technology, making it less necessary for them to take the high-risk route of attacking a Wakandan facility (whereas it's never suggested that France has anything akin to Helicarrier technology or any of the other tricks that SHIELD and the American superheroes had up their sleeves).
It also makes sense as a reference to Haiti and Tousaaint.
Mali is also one of 14 nations (including Haiti) who have been forced to pay colonial debt into France's treasury.
Why is N’Jadaka/Killmonger Shuri’s guide in the Ancestral Realmnote Besides the obvious answer of "Letting Michael B. Jordan retain his Perfect-Attendance-In-Ryan-Coogler-Movies Award"? He may be family, but he also tried to kill her brother and herself, and plunge her country into a war on the rest of the world. The reason for this is simple: Shuri is at a crossroads of her life after losing her family and desires vengeance against the man who killed her parent, leaving her to uphold a legacy she is not ready for, and a desire to do whatever it takes to sate her anger, even burning down the whole world. Just like Killmonger was. Killmonger is a dark mirror to Shuri, and a perfect example of what she may become if she loses herself to her pain. What better guide could there be?
Killmonger trying to convince Shuri to kill Namor out of revenge may be more than just forcing Shuri to embrace her feelings of rage towards Namor. He shows respect for both Shuri and Ramonda for helping save Riri Williams, an intelligent African-American woman who had accidentally created a Vibranium detector that got repurposed by the government, stating that T'Chaka would have seen her killed, something Namor is actively doing. Namor is basically everything Killmonger hates about T'Chaka: He keeps his kingdom a secret when he could be using it to help society as a whole, possibly citing the various Latin American communities that could use it much like how Namor killed colonizers that had enslaved his mother's village, and he's attempting to assassinate a young, smart, black woman who managed to work her way up to MIT.
How are the Talokanil, a race that has spent centuries living underwater, so adept at moving and fighting on dry land? Easy, the caverns where Shuri and Riri are held captive and where Namor goes to have some me-time also allow the Talokanil to train in open-air combat.
Talokan being an adaptation of the comics' version of Atlantis serves as a parallel to how Klaue claimed that the story of El Dorado came from garbled accounts about Wakanda, with both nations standing in for mythical lost cities. This also allows for the movies to obliquely comment on the racial subtext surrounding these myths; the fact that the legend of El Dorado was part of how colonial nations such as Spain incentivized the conquest of South America is contrasted with Wakanda's status as a country which was never colonized, while this article points out that the myth of Atlantis was historically used to attribute the creations of "primitive" non-white nations to a superior ancient civilization; the portrayal of Talokan as an independently advanced and pre-colonial civilization allows for a rebuttal of this idea.
Shuri’s Panther Habit has an interesting color choice. In addition to the traditional black, she also has various pieces of silver (clearly meant to invoke T’Challa) and gold (which bring to mind the Habit of N’Jadaka/Killmonger). This specific choice helps mirror the struggle that Shuri herself is going through: does she follow the noble example of T’Challa, and become the protector of her people? Or does she lose herself to vengeance like N’Jadaka did, and become an agent of wrath against those who took her family from her?
Also to keep in mind that in the first film, T'Challa liked the suit with gold highlights Shuri made, and only passed over it because he was about to embark on a stealth mission and needed something less flashy. However, Shuri dons the suit to embark on a military operation where stealth is less of a priority, and visibility was precisely what Shuri needed for her suit since she needed to show her people and Namor that the Black Panther was back and ready to fight.
Add to this that whichever Tribe is in the position of the Royal Family is nicknamed "The Golden Tribe". T'Chaka wore a little bit of gold in the flashback of the first film. Shuri making a Golden Panther Habit is likely her way of implementing that as well as the fact that superheroes are now public figures. She probably wanted something to show that the Black Panther is of royalty.
During Shuri's coronation, M'Baku comes out of the plane instead and says that she sends her regards but won't be attending. Then, he makes a claim to challenge for leadership of Wakanda, winning by default. Why did Shuri not show up? For one reason, she was in Haiti meeting T'Challa's son. For another reason, as shown in the first movie, after a challenge to the throne, the power of the Black Panther is stripped from the current holder, who must then defend him/herself without the added strength and speed. M'Baku is twice the size of Shuri, had more muscle mass, and had more combat experience than her; you do the math.
Why were the defences of Wakanda, the so-called greatest power on the planet, so easily breached with so little in the way of an immediate response? Ditto the minimal forces scraped together for the final stand in the ocean? Simple; with first the civil war between T'Challa and Killmonger and then fighting a full-scale invasion against Thanos, their standing forces have been very badly depleted, leaving Wakanda vulnerable. Even more so with the Black Panther (initially) lost to them.
While this doesn't rule out the above theory, it's also possible that Wakanda chose not to deploy all of its armed forces against Talokan. Their battle strategy depended on Shuri trapping Namor on the aircraft and killing him or producing a truce, with the forces on the ship serving as a delaying tactic, so putting every soldier Wakanda had left on the ship wouldn't necessarily help their chances. The remaining troops could have been held in reserve in Wakanda to defend the nation, or oversee emergency measures such as an evacuation or armed resistance should things go south completely.
Also consider that Wakanda has always a.) considered threats to their security to be the other nations of Earth who only have technologically inferior, conventional land and air-based militaries and b.) been a landlocked country, likely never considering an amphibious assault by river to be a viable means of enemy invasion, let alone from an attacking force with superhuman soldiers armed with vibranium. Indeed, the Elders are skeptical of someone swimming 100 kilometers without any detectable diving equipment.
M'Baku being wary of starting a Forever War with Namor and the rest of Talokan makes a lot of sense if one takes his experiences from Avengers: Infinity War into account. At the end of that film, M'Baku had to watch several of his fellow soldiers and the man he once considered a brother fade into dust, and live the next five years in miserable isolation while Wakanda tried to keep itself afloat. Suffering so much loss after such a brutal battle likely will have worn down M'Baku's Blood Knight personality, since he now knows the consequences of losing.
Whilst many fans wondered if M'Baku, Nakia or Okoye would be the next Black Panther, it makes sense that none of them take up the mantle.
M'Baku and Nakia are from the Jabari and River Tribe, respectively; therefore, they worship Ghekre/Hanuman (the Jabari Gorilla deity) and Sobek (the River Crocodile deity). If they ascended to being Wakanda's Royal Champion, their titles would reflect their respective Deities colour and animal motif (Silver Gorilla and Green Crocodile).
In Okoye's case, if the Champion must be a Royal, Okoye may not count if she is not part of any of the tribes' leading families. Due to her status as a Dora Milage, it's not clear what tribe/ethnicity she is. She may not be from the Golden Tribe/Black Panther tribe and in fact be from another tribe. Though her marriage to W'Kabi could make her eligible to represent the Border Tribe's Royal Family as a possible champion, her title would not be modeled on Bast the Black Panther goddess if that was the case; it would likely reflect the Border Tribe's colour and the animal motif of their worshipped deity.
Some fans asked why Tiamut's frozen statue in Eternals wasn't addressed as Namor could have easily been angered by there being a colossal statue of a space god in what is his domain. The answer is due to the fact that Talokan is located in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico. Whereas the final battle of Eternals takes place in the Indian Ocean.
Nakia's initial objection to Queen Ramonda recruiting her to infiltrate Talokan, that the Wakandan Nakia was a different person, takes on an extra layer after the revelation in The Stinger: she's also a mother now. It also shows how far Ramonda was willing to go save Shuri, asking the mother of her only grandson to risk her life on a dangerous mission.
T'Challa's decision to have his son raised away from Wakanda is said to be because he wanted him to grow up without the pressures of being a royal. But, knowing T'Challa and his development as a person over the last several years, it's hard to imagine that he and Nakia also didn't want their son to grow up unaware of the world outside Wakanda like T'Challa had been raised. He likely expected Wakanda to return to isolationism after his death either by necessity (the country would have gone through a lot over the last several years and needed to rebuild itself) or because of the lingering influence of the older, generally more conservative tribe elders.
Talokan's beginning was a Mayan tribe fleeing from the destruction the Spanish conquistadors brought. It isn't hard to make the connection that the Mayan pantheon was up there in Omnipotence City, pleasuring themselves while their people were suffering. Sure, Chaac wasn't as bad as the others, seeing as how he led the priest to what allowed the people to escape underwater, but that still doesn't change the fact that the horrors of colonization were allowed to happen by lazy, hedonistic gods.
There might be some Fridge Brilliance here. Bast's current incarnation is a domestic goddess and so wouldn't really help too much as far as war and fighting goes, so, perhaps with the conflict, her governance is limited?
In the middle of the movie, we learn that Nakia left Wakanda after Thanos' attack, which was six years ago, and it's been one year since T'Challa's death. A quick calculation shows that he must have passed at most a few months after the Battle of Earth.
This also raises the possibility that the physical strain of fighting in the Battle of Wakanda and Battle of Earth consecutively (since T'Challa was Snapped and would have had perhaps only a few minutes to recover from the former before leading Wakanda's armies in the latter) weakened his body and accelerated his illness and demise.
Adding to this, T'Chaka completely gave up the Black Panther powers in old age (as evidenced when the explosion in Civil War killed him but not T'Challa). It's possible that, despite the superhuman physique and healing factor, the enhanced body of the Black Panther requires extreme maintenance (ie. higher caloric intake) and therefore can possibly burn out their body quicker, like weakening the immune system, hence T'Chaka having powers in old age could be more of a hinderance than an advantage. T'Challa between Infinity War and Endgame technically had no rest between the two fights. Possibly allowing his body to be burned out and susceptible to whatever illness that slowly killed him.
With all the pollution and artificial warming of the oceans, the fact that Talokan hasn't already waged war with the entire surface world is downright miraculous. Ocean Master of Aquaman (2018) was already raring to do just that in his universe. Then again, considering Talokan is supposed to be situated deep underwater, they probably think the biospheric collapse of the surface isn't supposed to reach them—at least not until the events of this film.
Or they manually opened the suit. They clearly knew how it functioned and just murdered the helpless sea-divers inside.
Potential Fridge Tearjerker. Namor's mother gets a lot of attention in the story, but his father is never directly seen or referenced. His mother seems to have raised him alone. But notice how in the flashback to Namor's people, his mother is first seen performing a funeral ritual for someone? It's a man around her age who died of smallpox. It's possible that was Namor's father, killed by the disease brought over by the Spanish before he was even born.
Ramonda's deep-rooted hatred towards the Elders for their faith in Killmonger cuts especially deep when you remember that two of them caused Killmonger to even get into the position to almost kill T'Challa and burn the herbs that would have saved his life again in the first place. note The River Tribe Elder who demanded Killmonger to reveal who he is, thus enabling M'Kathu, the Border Tribe Elder, to Rules Lawyer the fight to happen
Looking back at it there were several ways for T'Challa and Nakia's plan to raise their son in Haiti to have gone horribly wrong. First off, if you do the math, Nakia had T'Challa II slightly before or slightly after The Battle of Wakanda. Junior was fortunate to not have been snapped - or, for that matter, equally fortunate that his mother hadn't been snapped while he was likely a year or two old at most. And even beyond that... Haiti has seen its fair share of natural disasters over the years. As a Caribbean island situated near the meeting of tectonic planes it's especially vulnerable to hurricanes and earthquakes, Thanos notwithstanding.
as an insignia on the breastplates of priests.