Funny / Black Panther (2018)

All spoilers are unmarked. Proceed with caution.

"The real question is WHAT ARE THOSE?!"

— Shuri reacts in meme fashion to the open-toed shoes T'Challa wears in her lab.

Movie

• An undercover Zuri in 1992 describing the Dora Milaje as "these two Grace Jones-looking chicks." Even better, Zuri knows damn well who they are, so in-universe he manages to come up with that on the fly and sell it to N'Jobu.
  • Then, when T'Chaka reveals himself, N'Jobu immediately kneels, but Zuri-as-James just stands there for a second because that would give away his spy status. N'Jobu smacks him from the chest without getting up, essentially saying "Bow, you idiot!" Funny the first time around, even funnier the second time around.
• We first see T'Challa and Okoye when they're about to intercept the caravan Nakia is on. Okoye gears up to go with him, but T'Challa assures her he can handle it alone. Okoye's reaction is basically the non-verbal equivalent of "Riiiiight."
• Okoye tells T'Challa not to "freeze" before he attacks the convoy to free Nakia, to which he answers, "I never freeze." Guess what he does upon being reunited with Nakia?
  T'Challa: Nakia... Hi...
  • T'Challa doing that? Funny. T'Challa doing that while fully dressed in his badass Black Panther suit? Hilarious.
  • It's his tone of voice that sells it: normally T'Challa sounds stoic and badass, but here he sounds more like a nervous teen greeting his crush.
    • Watch Nakia's reaction immediately when he freezes up. Her annoyed look is priceless, as if to say, "You are actually doing this right now?"
  • Also Okoye's reaction after she drops into deal with the last of the militants who was threatening a hostage to make T'Challa stand down.
    Okoye: You froze.
• And then Okoye gleefully points out to everyone that he did "freeze", when they return home.
  Shuri: Did he freeze?
  Okoye: Like an antelope in headlights. [grins]
  Shuri: [laughs her head off]
  T'Challa: [annoyed at Okoye] Are you finished?
  • With added icing to the cake, Okoye winks back at Shuri with a slightly trollish grin on her face. These girls really like to tease T'Challa for laughs.
  • The Hungarian subtitles may top it, as Okoye instead responds that he froze "Like Captain America."
• Shuri flips T'Challa the bird after he makes a crack at her choice in ceremonial garb, and Ramonda reprimands Shuri, who then apologizes... to her mother. The immediacy of Ramonda's reaction is as if she knew what Shuri did without even seeing it, out of pure motherly instinct (though if you look closely, it's probably because she sees T'Challa's shocked reaction).
  • Made even funnier by the interpretation that T'Challa deliberately reacted with such shock just to get Shuri in trouble.
• During T'Challa's coronation, when Zuri asks if anyone of royal blood wants to challenge for the throne, Shuri raises her hand. For a moment, there is shock, as it looks like T'Challa will have to fight his sister, until Shuri explains: "This corset is really uncomfortable, so can we all wrap this up and go home?" Considering T'Challa is struggling not to laugh, some of the Dora Milaje are grinning, and the rest of the crowd reacts with a whole lot of sighs, eye-rolls and facepalms, it's more than likely this is not the first time Shuri has done something like that.
  • And when M'Baku arrives to challenge, as the wording is "To anyone of royal blood, I offer a path to the throne", and Zuri is surprised at his arrival.
    M'Baku: It's challenge day.
• While reminiscing about T'Chaka, Zuri jokes that T'Chaka retired as the Black Panther because he got too fat to fit in the suit.
• When talking to W'Kabi, T'Challa gets a call from Okoye on his beads... a split second before W'Kabi gets the same call on his.
  T'Challa: You too, huh?
  W'Kabi: Bast, we're in trouble.
• Shuri briefs T'Challa before his mission to South Korea.
  Shuri: Who are you taking with you to Korea?
  T'Challa: Okoye... and Nakia, as well.
  Shuri: Are you sure it's a good idea to take your ex with you on a mission?
  T'Challa: Yes. [Beat. He looks at Shuri] We'll be fine. Besides, you'll be on call should we need backup.
  Shuri: [under her breath] Yes!
• Shuri making fun of T'Challa's royal sandals before introducing her nanomachine-laden, total sound absorption footwear. Which she named "Sneakers" (with T'Challa reacting the same way anyone would hearing that). Also that it's implied that she got the idea from Back to the Future Part II (and that T'Chaka was a big fan).
  • Shuri's reaction to the sandals: "WHAT ARE THOOOOOOOOOSE?!"
    • Even better is Shuri's huge grinning expression when she says it.
• While demonstrating the new Black Panther suit's ability to absorb and weaponize kinetic energy, Shuri tells T'Challa to strike the suit. After T'Challa knocks it halfway across the room, she sets the suit back up and tells him to hit it again. Cue her big brother being blown backwards. Shuri, naturally, is filming the entire thing and laughing her head off afterwards.
  T'Challa: Delete that footage!
  • What's more hilarious is that this is totally a setup by Shuri. The first time she tells T'Challa to hit it, the suit flies like a ragdoll and Shuri makes a fuss how he hit it too hard. Then she tells him to hit it again and activate the kinetic blast function, which leads to the above.
  • Even better, T'Challa knows it. It's clearly not the first time Shuri's tried to prank him, and Shuri even starts recording without telling him why before he strikes it again. When he asks, she indignantly says, "For research purposes." You can just see the resignation on his face as he willingly walks into Shuri's latest shenanigan.
• All in all, Black Panther's previous appearances have been about him being effortlessly badass and even when angry always in control of himself. The first act of the movie after the prologue is his family and friends roasting him mercilessly.
• Before he robs a vibranium warhammer, Killmonger tells the museum guide that he'll take it, as though he were going to buy it. She's clearly perplexed and wondering if he's in the right building.
  • In a Freeze-Frame Bonus, eagle-eyed viewers who look at the museum guide's coffee will see that the name "Thomas" is written on the side of the cup. Made even funnier by the fact that Killmonger's girlfriend was working undercover as a barista and is likely whom the guide got her coffee from.
  • After Klaue stashes the vibranium hammer, he notices Killmonger eyeing a tribal mask.
    Klaue: You're not telling me that's vibranium, too?
    Killmonger: Nah, I'm just feelin' it. [grabs it]
  • After he and Klaue escape in an ambulance, we see Killmonger make out with his girlfriend. Some people get a room, but Erik Killmonger gets an ambulance.
• While undercover in Busan, Okoye complains about having to wear a wig. She ends up throwing it at one of Klaue's goons shortly after combat begins.
  • When Okoye complains about the wig to Nakia, she teasingly suggests that Okoye "whip it back and forth", seemingly referencing the hook of a certain pop song.
  • Heck, Okoye's entire attempt at infiltration is low-key amusing. Fearsome warrior the General might be, she's crap at blending in.
• Everett Ross reminding T'Challa that after the events of Captain America: Civil War, he used his pull to keep secret from the world that "the ruler of a third-world country runs around in a bulletproof cat suit."
• Stan Lee's cameo in the underground casino. T'Challa wins a gambling game for Ross and leaves without the prize, to which Stan moves all of the chips to his side for "safe keeping."
• Klaue and his henchmen are being chased by Nakia and Okoye. The latter gets out of the car and on top of it before driving a spear through it, much to Nakia's dismay. Okoye then throws her spear, which goes through the windshield of the henchmen's car and lands in front of it, stopping the car dead. Nakia and Klaue's responses to this are priceless:
  Nakia: Whoo!
  Klaue: Oh, shit...
  Okoye: [grins]
• When Klaue destroys their car with his Arm Cannon, Okoye flips out of the tumbling wreckage and surfs on a piece of debris to safety. Nakia, having been strapped to the driver's seat while Okoye was on top of the vehicle, doesn't have nearly enough time to react and awkwardly slides down into view in the chair, hands still clasping the orphaned steering wheel. It's so ridiculously cartoony, it's like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon. Then Ross drives up, and asks meekly if Okoye can put her spear in the trunk.
• When Shuri sees that T'Challa had activated her "remotely control a car" gadget, she starts squeeing like a fangirl meeting her favorite boy band as she jumps in to drive.
  Shuri: Wait, which side of the road is this?
  T'Challa: For Bast's sake, just drive!
  Shuri: Okay, calm down!
  • At one point during T'Challa's side of the chase, a man falls out of the car he's attacking and rolls into the path of Shuri's car. Shuri feels the car jolt and asks with concern, "Hey, what was that?", to which T'Challa replies, "Don't worry about it, you're doing great!" He almost sounds like a proud parent at their preschooler's first recital.
  • At the end of the chase, Klaue destroys the car with his sonic cannon, which cues a Rapid-Fire "No!" Oh, Crap! from Shuri, apparently forgetting she's not even physically there. For all intents and purposes, she is behaving like a Let's Play gamer about to lose to a boss.
  • Not to mention it turned the simulation off, caused the car she was sitting in (which is the remote itself) to dissipate, and cause her to fall on her ass as a result. Bit of a design flaw there.
• Okoye's utterly deadpan reaction when she and Nakia are being shot at with firearms during the chase in Korea.
  Okoye: Guns. So primitive.
  • Made all the funnier as she uses a spear to fight.
  • Then there's Klaue's reaction when he notices that one of his men is still shooting Okoye and Nakia's car.
    Klaue: It's a Vibranium car, you idiots! The bullets won't penetrate!
• Eventually, Okoye gets bored and climbs up to the top of the car to take care of the shooters. She also stabs the roof with her spear. If Nakia's non-verbally complaining to this is any indication, it must belong to her.
• Klaue. Just... Klaue.
  • His Establishing Character Moment in the museum heist: he and an accomplice show up disguised as paramedics, kill all but one guard, and he offers to spare this guard if he doesn't tell anyone what he saw, and then shoots the guy In the Back as he runs away. It's Andy Serkis' ridiculously hammy delivery that takes it from just disturbing to darkly hilarious.
  • When Ross mocks his "entourage" and sarcastically asks if they're going to release a mixtape, Klaue reveals they actually have made one and offers him the link to his SoundCloud.
    Ross: Please don't make me listen to your music.
  • Where was he keeping the extremely valuable Vibranium hammer? His Trouser Space. Mildly funny, sure. It's wrapped in white packaging paper. Meh. Written on the packaging is the word FRAGILE. The theater proceeds to suffer a bad fit of giggles.
    "I was going to buy a fancy suitcase... but I thought I'd save myself some money."
    • Extra funny: While Klaue was doing all that, the camera cuts a bit to Ross wagging his head in slight annoyance as to what was going on in front of him.
  • His response to blasting a safe with cash at the casino:
    Klaue: [gleefully] I made it rain! *does incredibly wheezy laugh*
  • It's followed up by him excitedly yelling to his henchmen "THAT WAS AWESOME!" like a giddy ten-year-old.
  • He then tells his men to make the car chase more lively, insisting, "Put some music on! What do you think this is, a funeral?" The music they put on — a remix of "Opps" from the Black Panther companion album — becomes the BGM for the rest of the scene.
  • While he waits for Ross to interrogate him, Klaue yells "I can see you!" to the one-way mirror and gives a smooch. T'Challa is clearly disgusted inside.
  • Him singing an ultra-hammy rendition of Haddaway's "What Is Love" during his interrogation. It's weirdly endearing.
  • When Killmonger and his men show up to bust Klaue out, they don't even bother to untie him; they just grab the chair and cart it off with Klaue still chained up in it, alternating between laughing his head off and bitching that they took their sweet time coming to free him.
  • Even in death, Klaue has a big stupid grin on his face.
• When Ross and T'Challa are arguing over who has jurisdiction over Klaue, Okoye gets pissed when Ross gives T'Challa a friendly tap on the chest, and says in Wakandan that if he touches T'Challa again she'll impale him to a desk. Much to Ross's bemusement, as he doesn't understand a word she's saying.
  Ross: Does she speak English?
  Okoye: When she wants to.
  • What makes this also funny is T'Challa's reaction to Okoye's statement. He intentionally touches Ross's shoulder, which technically means that if she wants to keep her promise, she'd have to nail Ross to the desk now.
  • Even better is the exchange immediately after Ross leaves to interrogate Klaue. Okoye sounds like an unrepentant child, and T'Challa sounds more entertained than anything else.
    T'Challa: [chidingly] Okoye...
    Okoye: Baahh!
    T'Challa: [barely keeping a straight face] Play nice.
    Okoye: [scoffs] Americans...
    • Hilariously, Ross doesn't notice the two are doing Good Cop/Bad Cop on him, despite having suggested he and T'Challa do the very thing just before the two of them start on him.
• When T'Challa and co. bring the injured Ross to Wakanda, Shuri responds by saying, "Great, another broken white boy to fix. This is going to be fun." Also quite fitting seeing how she's the one who meets with Bucky Barnes in the post-credits scene.
• In a bit of Black Comedy before killing him, Killmonger felt the need to show off how utterly unimpressed he was by Klaue's warnings about Wakanda.
  Klaue: You really want to go to Wakanda? They're savages! [shows off a brand in his neck] This is what they do to people like us.
  Killmonger: I ain't worried 'bout no brand. Check these out. [rolls up his left sleeve to show off his scars] Each one for a kill.
  Klaue: You can scar yourself as much as you like. To them, you'll just be an outsider. You're crazy to think you can just walk in there. [Killmonger pulls down his lower lip to reveal his birth tattoo] ...aaaaahh. And to think I saw you as some crazy American. [starts laughing before Killmonger shoots him]
• Shuri referring to Ross as "colonizer".
  • When he first comes to and finds himself in Shuri's lab, he reasonably asks if he's in Wakanda. Shuri responds, "No, it's Kansas."
• Killmonger's smug delivery of "Hey, Auntie" to Ramonda after she and everyone else learns he is N'Jobu's son.
• Before he and T'Challa partake in the Challenge for the throne, Killmonger grabs a sword and a spear. Finding the spear's long shaft to be a hindrance to him, he simply snaps the majority of the shaft off and decides to use it as a makeshift dagger instead. He even swipes and thrusts with it, as if practicing using it to shank someone.
• When Ross tries to say something about Killmonger during the audience with M'Baku, M'Baku and his warriors just start their gorilla war chant/grunt until Ross awkwardly trails off. M'Baku then threatens that he will feed Ross to his children if he speaks again... and after a few seconds of keeping a straight face, smiles and assures him it was a joke and that his tribe/family is vegetarian. They still believed it for a second.
  • Ross actually gives a slightly nervous grin after that.
  • Not to mention M'Baku laughing at his own joke for a few seconds. And only M'Baku, since the two mooks by his side remain stoic and unmoved. You can also see M'Baku glancing at his mooks as if to say "you guys see what I did there, wasn't that hilarious?"
  • What make this scene so satisfying is that it's totally in line with his earlier characterization and comic history. A brilliant showcase of Hidden Depths that subvert expectation and Foreshadowing. It's also hilarious when you realize that despite their reputation, gorillas really are herbivores. M'Baku is well aware of the man-eating Killer Gorilla stereotype and plays it up for his own amusement.
  • Later, when the ritual to revive a comatose T'Challa is performed, M'Baku turns away to give the family some privacy and glares at Ross, who quickly does the same.
• Between the scenes above, and these examples below, M'Baku is a comedy gold mine and an unexpected source of hilarity.
  (T'Challa, Shuri, Nakia and Ross have just dramatically vowed to team up to save Wakanda from Killmonger)
  M'Baku: (loudly yawns) Are you done? Are you— are you done?
  • Following this, T'Challa attempts an Enemy Mine with M'Baku.
    T'Challa: I could use an army.
    M'Baku: I bet that you could. [laughs] But no.
    T'Challa: [frowns]
  • Later on, however, M'Baku changes his mind and brings to the Jabari with him to battle anyway. Considering how he's presented himself so far, he could have been trolling T'Challa again.
• After returning to life whilst being buried in the snow, T'Challa jokingly asks for a blanket.
• It's an otherwise dramatic moment, but when T'Challa confronts Killmonger after recovering his powers and coming back from the brink of death, the latter responds to the former calling out his name in challenge with an irreverent "Wassup?" and is equally dismissive of T'Challa's Badass Boast.
  Killmonger: All that challenge shit is over with! I'm the king now!
• At one point in the Final Battle, Nakia and Shuri have to sneak Ross into Shuri's lab. Being the only white person around, he'll obviously stick out like a sore thumb. Their solution? Putting a black ski mask over his head.
• Ross being frequently shocked at how advanced Wakanda's technology is.
  Shuri: [while asking Ross to remotely pilot a Wakandan fighter plane] It's just like riding a hoverbike.
  Ross: Wait, you guys have hoverbikes?
• During the final showdown, Okoye steps in the path of the armored rhino that nearly kills M'Baku. The rhino stops and gently licks Okoye's face. W'Kabi, who was riding the Rhino, is visibly very annoyed.
• After the final fight, T'Challa and Nakia are talking, but he interrupts her to sneak in a quick kiss. "You can't blame me, I almost died."
• In the last scene, when T'Challa brings Shuri to the Oakland neighborhood where N'Jobu and Erik lived, she complains that when he told her they were going to California, she assumed that meant going to a place like Coachella or Disneyland.
• When one of the American black kids sees the Wakandan aircraft, he calls it a "Bugatti spaceship!" Later in the scene when they discuss what to do with it, one of them suggests stripping it and selling the parts on eBay.
• In the mid-credits scene, one of the UN delegates patronizingly asks what a nation of Wakandan "farmers" can offer the world. T'Challa smirks. Cue Smash to Black.
  • There is also Ross' smug smile during the whole thing.
• In the post-credit scene, one of the curious children innocently poking at (what turns out to be) Bucky's face, as though wondering "Is he awake yet"?
• For anyone who sees this film at the Alamo Drafthouse chain of theaters, a glorious additional Brick Joke is added. At the beginning of the film, Chadwick Boseman is part of a promotional ad telling the audience not to talk or text during the film. He asserts that he will watch them the whole time, ending the ad with "I'm still watchin'!" Two and a half hours later, the credits are done, the stinger scenes are done, the screen goes black... and Chadwick pops up onscreen again.
  Chadwick Boseman: I'm STILL watchin'!

Previews

• The kidnappers don't see Black Panther in the trees until a dog starts barking at him. It's an extreme of a dog barking a cat up a tree.
• In the official trailer, Everett Ross recaps how he has seen gods fly, men build superweapons, and aliens drop out of the sky, but has never seen anything like Wakanda. He asks T'Challa what else is he hiding, and T'Challa gives a slight smile in reply.
• There's also the song apparently replying to Ross's questions.
  Ross: I've seen men build weapons that I couldn't even imagine.
  Song: Uh-huh?
  Ross: I've seen aliens drop from the sky.
  Song: Yeah?
  Ross: But I've never seen anything like this. How much more are you hiding?
  Song: Hol' up!