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    Knowledge of attackers 

  • When the Talokan attack the ship in the beginning, one of the crew very specifically gets out the message that the attackers are not Wakandan, they're blue. Throughout the rest of the film, no one mentions this, and Wakanda is blamed for everything. Also, for the attack on the bridge, yes they killed the witnesses, but what about dash cams? And did no one ask who the Wakandans were fighting?
    • It could be that Valentina is hiding this information for some reason. Those were CIA operatives.
      • Or more likely, she’s raring for an excuse to go after Wakanda for Vibranium and their advanced technologies. She outright states to Ross that she wishes America was the country with all the vibranium, so it wouldn’t be out of the question for her to suppress the information and possibility of other forces in order to have her excuse.
    • Given Lake Bell's character was only able to transmit this information on a headset after leaving the communication centre, it might not gotten through. Also "Attackers are blue." is a vague detail, might be Wakandans in blue wetsuits or power armor. Also the Talokan are not unfamilair with technology given the deep dive suit, they would destroy any evidence and likely the ship itself.

     Where were the Sonic spears? 

  • When did the Wakandan infantry lose their ability to fire sonic blasts from their spears? Would been extremely useful during the final battle to keep the boarders away from the Sea Leopard hull instead of engaging all the Talokan warriors in melee combat. And where were the grenades that one of the Dora Miljae used to take out the Talokan warriors using their siren attack on their paramedics?

    Healing factor 

  • Okoye stabs several Talokan through the chest, and then they get back up, implying a very strong Healing Factor. She even mentions this to the council later, so it certainly wasn't some production error. However, it's never brought up again, and Nakia kills another Talokan with a much more minor wound later. So what was this healing, and where did it go?
    • Nakia killed that one with a sonic gun, which the Talokans are shown to be very vulnerable to in the final battle. This makes sense, as their mutations are derived from a similar plant to the Heart-Shaped Herb, both of which were formed by proximity to vibranium, so it should be no surprise when they share similar drawbacks.

     Riri returning to the US 
  • By the end of the movie, Riri is allowed to leave Wakanda and return home. She expresses worry that she could be arrested at the airport, but Shuri reassures her that "she took care of it," and even has Riri's car shipped to Boston ahead of her. Given the extreme tension between Wakanda and the United States, and Riri's specific status as a person of interest to the CIA, the FBI, and the Cambridge and Boston police, how can anything other than a federal task force be expecting Riri upon arrival?
    • It's possible that Wakanda threatened the United States government not to take any coercive action against Riri Williams - either by threatening to publically expose how they targeted one of their own citizens (and illegally appropriated her technology for military purposes), or maybe by threatening to expose other dirty secrets of the US state (remember, the Wakandans have spies embedded across the globe, including the US). Presumably we'll learn more about Riri's legal status in the upcoming Ironheart series.

     The US bugging the beads 
  • So the US government is capable of bugging Wakandian technology in such a way that Shuri's lab didn't detect it? Even if they went low tech, the lab would surely pick up basic radio waves?
    • Perhaps the bugging was limited to the string of beads that Ross had, such as Val inserting a fake CIA "bug bead" among all the other Wakandan beads.

     Talokan besieging Wakanda without the rest of the world noticing 

  • Wakanda has been mentioned to be landlocked in the first film, and maps have shown it to be roughly in the area between Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. No major river flows from that area to the sea—the closest would be minor streams that will finally join the Nile then flow into the Mediterranean, several thousand miles away. So how did Talokan manage to attack Wakanda without any of the surrounding countries noticing?
    • Wakanda is still hidden from the world by holographic shields, and possibly other defenses. This is why the outside world doesn't really know what happened. It's possible that, through sophisticated surveillance, the US and other Western countries were able to pick up signs of some kind of violence in the area, without knowing any specifics. Hence, the mention of 'civil unrest'.
      • I was more talking about the logistics of bringing enough water from the sea to flood the landlocked Wakanda without any of the intervening countries noticing said amount of water moving through their own rivers.
    • Alternatively, its possible that the world (or at any rate, governments and their intelligence agencies) did pick up on Talokan attacking Wakanda. But all that the general public and the media is being told is that Ramonda died in 'civil unrest'. The 'civil unrest' narrative was possibly being developed as part of a US plan to invade Wakanda on the pretext of bringing 'stability' to the country.
    • We don't know how exactly Namor maneuvers through the sea. We see him and his people constantly going in and out of underwater caves, so there may be a Hollow Earth thing going on there.

     You can't think of any other A.I. examples, Ramonda? 

  • Ramonda comments that she thinks that Shuri's A.I. and other A.I. would rise up, when speaking about her apprehension to it. The apprehension is obviously because of fictional A.I. like Skynet and it's mentioned that this is because of stuff from the movies. Wouldn't the obvious choice in a world like this be Ultron?
    • Ramonda probably was thinking about Ultron when she said that. Wakanda would be very aware of Ultron's attack on Sokovia, given that vibranium was used in it and Ulysses Klaue was involved. In fact, T'Chaka went for that fateful UN meeting to sign the Sokovia Accords.
      • I get that but I just thought it would have made more sense for Ultron to be mentioned by name.
      • In-universe, it's been 9 years since Ultron and a lot has happened since then which more directly affected Wakanda. It makes sense that he'd only be off-handedly alluded to.
      • Ultron is probably infamous yet far-off enough that people would get any reference to him that doesn't directly name him. Like how "You know what happened the last time an art school reject got into politics?" is obviously referring to Hitler.
      • At this point, talking about Ultron within the MCU as a warning about A.I. going wrong, is like mentioning Skynet in real life for the same.

    Namora's Name 

  • The origin for Namor's name is El Nino Sin Amor. The Boy Without Love. He explained that only his enemies call him this and his real name that he goes by is Kukulkan. Why is it that Namora goes by a female gendered version of the name that only Kukulkan's enemies call him rather than having a Mayan name as well?
    • Namor himself came up with that name and seems almost proud when explaining its origin. It's basically a declaration of scorn for the surface and could also be taken to symbolize pride in Talokan, so it's not inconceivable that someone would name their daughter that.
    • Maybe Namora has a Mayan name but she likes to go by "Namora" most of the time because it sounds badass and it honors her god.

    Selective retaliation for losing one's own 
  • Namor is shown to take the wellbeing of his people very seriously, to the point where he declares war on Wakanda for killing exactly one Talokan while trying to rescue Shuri. If that's the case, why didn't he do anything besides possibly causing an underwater earthquake when Thanos snapped half his people away? That would be one hell of a reason to declare war on the surface world.
    • Namor was likely aware of Thanos and that the surface world wasn't responsible. He also probably had his hands full with half his people gone. The Snap would also have severely reduced the Talokan's fighting capabilities and he probably figured that now was not the time to engage in any conflict with the surface world, especially when they aren't (for once) the direct cause of his plight.
      • Considering Namors actions in the movie, it is very likely he and Talokan have been operating under a policy of as close to 0 interaction with the surface world as possible. Which means he probably knows nothing about Thanos. If he did know about Thanos then Namor would also know about things like the internet, Avengers, Asgardian resettlement, the Sorcerer's Association, Shield and other agencies of similar capabilities across the world, and the sheer number of soldiers Talokan would be facing (which according to google is roughly 10-15 millions soldiers alone in the top 10 countries so including the rest of the world would push the number significantly higher). So if Namor knew about all that, which if he knew about Thanos means Namor would have an intelligence agency capable of knowing about every thing else as well, that would make his idea of attacking the surface world close to suicidal and having Namor holding an idiot ball of truly epic proportions.
    • That's also assuming Namor himself wasn't among those Snapped away and thus only recently have the Talokan been able to adjust.

     Namor's goal 
  • What exactly was Namor looking to accomplish by instigating a war with the surface anyways? World domination? Destruction of all the surface peoples? A preemptive warning not to mess with Talokan?
    • It seemed to be world domination, along with a complete destruction of the surface world's ability to threaten Talokan - both of which are one and the same in his mind.
    • Namor and Talokan, to me, has obviously taken a policy of total isolation. They have no spies on the surface world and might be vaguely aware of advances in tech and world happenings but not enough to accurately make solid plans for dealing with the surface world as a whole. This would lead to Namors idea that they could win in a fight, as Namor is working on the idea that a single city state could take on the might of the world, the Avengers, any and all government agencies on par with Shield, Asgard, and the Sorcerer's Association, and the sheer number of opponents Talokan would face. However if Namor knows about Thanos he would know about the Avengers, Shield, Asgard, the Sorcerer's Association, and the sheer number of adversaries Talokan would face. This makes Namors idea of attacking the surface world almost suicidal. Which given Namors actions in the movie lean more to the idea of the total isolation theory and not having an accurate picture of the surface world.

     Shuri entering the ancestral plane 
  • Is it the real Killmonger or an hallucination created in Shuri's mind? Also, if it is really Erik, how does he know about T'Challa sparing Zemo?
    • With Taweret namedropping the Ancestral Plane as a very real realm of existence akin to the Duat, there is no real reason to believe that Shuri didn't succeed in entering the Ancestral Plane. Especially since Killmonger himself pokes fun at Shuri for her disbelief that Plane really exists. As for how Erik would be aware of T'Challa sparing Zemo? The Wakandan souls present here are heavily implied to still be able to observe their lineage from the Ancestral Plane, such as Queen Ramonda reaching out to Shuri during her Final Battle against Namor. So it isn't a stretch to believe that Erik would gain more insight on T'Challa's life by keeping an eye on both him and his family in death.
    • He may have also known about that while he was alive, as T'Challa would have had no reason to keep the fact that he handed Zemo over to the authorities a secret.
      • Not to mention, Killmonger was a former US covert operative who was actively working with Ulysses Klaue on his plans to infiltrate Wakanda. There's a pretty good chance he was tracking any and all developments related to Wakanda and the royal family...such as the assassination of T'Chaka (his father's killer).

     "Kill the scientist!" 
  • So the entire plot kicks off because Riri builds a vibranium detector as a school project, and a professor lifts her work and gives it to the U.S. government, and the Talokanil find out and are pissed off... and in all the conflict that ensues, and with how hardline Namor is about killing Riri to protect Talokan's secrets, nobody ever suggests following up on this professor? It's not like Namor's taking on the U.S. government (yet), but if he's this adamant about killing Riri, surely the professor who stole her work—and probably has multiple copies—and gave it to the people who want to exploit vibranium resources would also merit a mention?
    • There was only one with them mentioning how it's irreplaceable at the beginning, and she would be the only person who could make another.
      • Shuri also disassembles the machine and assesses that it’s been made from a combination of scrap parts and custom made pieces. Given that there’s only one machine (which is now in Wakanda’s custody), the custom pieces can’t be reverse engineered, even if someone had the broad strokes schematics.
      • It's still a pretty weak explanation that they'd have no plans, no prototypes, and no back-up for the detector tech. Even getting the custom parts reverse engineered is just a matter of time, not possibility.
    • Given the theory that Namor and Talokan has pursued a policy of total isolation, so no spies and near zero contact with the surface world. There is a high probability that they know nothing about the internet and how fast information can be stored, spread, or travel. They may be operating under the impression that as long as they kill the one scientist they are fine. Since that is how things would worked in the 1600-1700's, you know the last time they had any major form of contact with the surface world.
      • But at the same time they have technologically advanced deep-sea diving suits, so Talokan clearly has some exposure to modern tech. And even if they simply stole Shuri a diving suit from their vibranium detector raid, they have to have some concept of the scientific method and that once tech is invented it's nigh impossible to get it un-invented.
      • That has not stopped people from trying at any point in history to put the "genie back in the bottle" as it were. There are plenty of real life examples of something getting invented and groups of people trying to get it "un-invented". But again that leads credence to the fact they are dealing with a mind set in the 1600-1700's. Yes, this thing has been invented, but if we kill the person who invented it that solves the problem. That solution would be very effective if it takes months, years, or decades for information to spread. Kill the one person and even if some one hears about the new invention months or years later if they try to keep it going now they have to start from scratch because the original inventor is dead and all records destroyed.

     Okoye serving Killmonger in the first movie 
  • Should Okoye be called out by Ramonda for that? Okoye's job is to serve anyone who sits on the throne, even a vicious madman like Erik. She DID turn on him at the end.
    • Ramonda in recent years has grieved the loss of her husband, her son, and her daughter has just been abducted. Is it really a headscratcher why she's lashing out irrationally?
    • Grief is a sinister thing. Ramonda was hurting, and Okoye being there was a reminder that she had lived when T'Challa was gone, so Ramonda lashed out, taking what had been a minor thing (Okoye had followed exactly what her job was, to the letter), and snapped at her about it.
      • Yes, its grief. But it's also politics. The way Ramonda speaks, it seems as though the ruling council of Wakanda has some discretion in matters such as challenges to the throne. To her mind, the ruling council chose to follow the rules in letter, but not spirit, by allowing Killmonger to take the throne and unilaterally declare war on the rest of the world - possibly because they were disillusioned with T'Chaka and T'Challa's more moderate approach and wanted a more hardline leadership (we certainly know that was the case with W'Kabi). Among other things, this resulted in the destruction of the heart-shaped herb which could have saved her son from his illness. Not to mention it forced her and her daughter temporarily into exile. She's frustrated with the establishment, and to her grief-stricken mind, Okoye is a loyal soldier to that establishment first, and not her family.
    • Ramonda and her family are kings and queens, not elected officials. The station traditionally confers a position of mysticism and divine authority, probably doubly so with Wakanda's factually-grounded spirituality. Both Ramonda and Shuri treat their concerns and grief as being the concerns and grief of Wakanda itself. In that light, it'd be easy for Ramonda to assert that Killmonger was a false king, whatever his legitimate claims to the throne, by dint of the fact that she wears the crown and he's underground. Is it rational? No, but neither is the concept of monarchy.

     Talokan’s underwater mounts 
  • Okay, how exactly did the Talokanil manage to get several orcas and a humpback whale so far up freshwater inland rivers?

     Imperius say what now? 
  • "Imperius Rex!" is the catchphrase of Namor in the comic books, sure, but the MCU's Namor is from Talokan. How would he know a Latin phrase and, more importantly, why would he use it instead of "Liik'k Talokan!" or something like that—especially given that Catholic priests were among the people destroying his mother's homeland?
    • He says it exactly once, and it sounds rather mocking. He might, in fact, have gotten it from those very same priests, just like he got the name "Namor." He seems rather proud of that name, so he could be using the Latin phrase in a similar way, stealing something from the people who stole so much from him.
    • He doesn't say Imperius Rex, he says something in Mayan that is loosely translated as Imperius Rex as a Mythology Gag. In actuality he says something like "Eternal King" (presumably talking about himself).

     The size of Namor's army 
  • Early on, Namor brags that there are more soldiers in his army than there are blades of grass in Wakanda. But the most we ever see is like 200-300 people. Was Namor making an empty boast, or are we supposed to believe that he has millions of soldiers offscreen somewhere?
    • He never marshals his full forces on-screen, so they're probably off-screen. The times we see Namor head to battle (the attack at the rig, the raid in Wakanda and the trap he falls into at the end) he's always just doing quick raids with small groups.
    • It's probably a bit of both. Talokan's armies employ a lot of guerilla warfare, which suggests they don't have the numbers to engage another army in direct combat. On the other hand, Namor's seat of power is identified as the capital city, meaning he has a proper empire that spans an undisclosed territory. Mobilizing an army across an empire can take time, perhaps more time than Namor had in the limited span of the film.

     Arresting Riri 
  • Shuri shows up at Riri's college and convinces her to come to Wakanda. They head to the garage where Riri keeps her stuff, and then the FBI shows up with a warrant for her arrest. Why? Riri hasn't broken any laws, and as far as I know neither has Shuri. The obvious explanation is that maybe the U.S. government knows that Riri is a vital asset and they don't want her going anywhere, but if that's the case, why hasn't she already been recruited by the CIA? There's no mention of them even approaching her, even though she's obviously very important.
    • The U.S Government is clearly raring to go after Wakanda, so they might have caught wind of Shuri contacting a unofficial US Intelligence asset and decided that this is functionally high treason. Arrest it is.

     Attacking Riri 
  • As Riri, Shuri and Okoye are fleeing from the FBI, Namor's people show up and attack everybody. Why? Namor specifically asked the Wakandans to find Riri, and here they are with Riri! For all he knows, the Wakandans are doing exactly what he told them to do and they're planning to report in (via that shell he gave them earlier) just as soon as they escape the FBI. So why do Namor's people lead off with a deadly water grenade against people who appear to be cooperating with Namor's request?

     Earplugs 
  • Early on, Namor's people attack a boat. Two officers on lower decks watch through video screens as everyone else hears a hypnotic sound and walks off the edge of the boat. The two officers react to this by calmly putting in some earplugs. What is going on?? They couldn't have known Namor would do this, because they didn't know he existed. Even if they had earplugs on standby just in case some unknown enemy used an unexpected sonic attack, why wasn't everyone wearing these earplugs in the first place? The obvious answer to that is that wearing earplugs makes it hard to hear things so you won't want to put them on until it's necessary, but that leads me to my next point: Why were these earplug-wearing officers still perfectly capable of hearing things?? One of them immediately gets on the radio to tell the helicopter pilot to get ready; apparently the earplugs don't stop her from hearing his response. As they're escaping they appear to talk to each other, again without trouble. At the same time, though, they seem to have become completely immune to mind control. I would think that maybe these are fancy earplugs that only filter out mind-controlling noises without messing up normal hearing, but if that's the case then everyone should be wearing earplugs in the first place as a precaution.
    • They seemed to be to just be regular noise-cancelling earplugs (that would make sense in a facility with heavy machinery such as that one) and the guards just put two and two together that the people were leaping off boats due the siren song they were hearing. The Talokan siren song also seems to have a limited range of effectiveness and is rather easy to dispel.

     Away from the pressures of the throne 
  • Why would T'Challa keep his child secret from his own sister? And why is Haiti a better place to live than Wakanda? Even if you want your kid to grow up without the pressures of being a prince, couldn't the kid just live anonymously in Wakanda, as a regular citizen?
    • T'Challa just came hot on the heels of a massive bit of royal conspiracy in Wakanda with Killmonger. Perhaps he was playing it safe in case any more Deadly Decadent Court shenanigans ensue.
      • Another consideration is that Wakanda is a regular target of intrigue and battle, so T'challa decided that Haiti was far safer in the wake of Killmonger and Thanos
    • T'Challa the 2nd had a hereditary claim to the Wakandan throne, but obviously was (and is) also too young to actually win the throne at Warrior Falls. When T'Challa was snapped in IW, it would be the ideal time for the mother of the heir to make herself and the child scarce, and since the nature of T'Challa's illness was intentionally vague, the character may have battling it behind the scenes for some time. The prince couldn't live in Wakanda anonymously, as any random child being raised by Nakia would be an obvious source of interest.

     Namor, translation convention and telepathy 
  • Comics wise Namor has the ability to telepathically communicate with Atlantians and most animal life (mostly marine/aquatic animals). It is theorised he could do more I.E protect his mind from telepathy, control others animals and sentient beings and learn information like languages. Now is this the case for the MCU Namor? He knows his native Mayan langauge, he also seems to have picked up on Spanish (likely Latin American dialects) as he does routinely visit the surface. But does he know Xhosa, Yoruba and English too? He overheard Ramonda and Shuri's conversation either through super hearing or Telepathy but also understood them. For the audiences benefit, the actors are speaking English. But I think its likely and more realistic Ramonda and Shuri were speaking Xhosa, so Namor is speaking to them in Xhosa? So how did he learn this? Im guessing he has some underdefined Telepathic ability that allows him to learn language faster than normal and it allows him to communicate with the 100s or 1000s Talokans just from his throne. Unless there another explanation on how Namor communicates with non-Spanish speakers.
    • Possibly a lame answer, but you might be overthinking it. It's easier just to assume that everyone who speaks English is in fact speaking English. Asgardians speak English, Thanos speaks English, the Eternals speak English, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that everyone in Wakanda speaks English for no reason other than the audience and plot's benefit.

    Ramonda not recognizing her grandson 
  • Before Namor shows up, Ramonda is clearly about to tell Shuri about T'Challa's secret son with Nakia. Yet, when she actually meets up with him in Haiti, she doesn't react with any sort of familiarity when Toussaint runs up to her and leads her to his mother. Why wouldn't she acknowledge him?
    • Safety, maybe? She's playing it cool so that nobody else knows he's the crown prince of Wakanda, just to be safe. Doubly so since she's asking Nakia to go on a mission, which leaves him even MORE exposed

    Namor's contradicting motivations 
  • Given Talokan's ridiculous power and placement, even the Avengers and Thanos' forces will just anti-climatically drown underwater if they try to invade. The biggest hypothetical threat to his kingdom would be the wizards (who pretty much fold anyone if the plot allows it), a fleet of submarines or someone recreating Homer Simpson's fishing with a bug zapper method. Given how isolated Talokan is from the rest of the world, outside of seeing his people or even himself get Snapped, I seriously doubt that Namor is aware enough of the world's events to realize that his reckless actions in the movie will just lead to Talokan's exposure. How much of his actions is for staying hidden and how much of it is his hate towards the surface? One half wants the world to drown against his walls, the other half wants to stay hidden until the end of time. It is just one huge contradicting mess.
    • Talokan has already been exposed when the United States found the underwater vibranium. Namor surmises (and nothing in the movie suggests he's wrong) the US will keep coming back for the vibranium, considering how invaluable it is. And they definitely have enough submarines to pose a threat to Talokan. So Namor probably thinks that his only option now is a show of strength to make anyone think twice before they try to rob his nation of its riches.
    • Humanity has been using submarines for over a century. Underwater warfare is not some brave new frontier for us in the real world, nevermind the crazy world of power armor, alien technology, robot drones, living gods, and gamma mutants that is the MCU. Like Wakanda in the previous film, Namor understands that the rest of the world has advanced to the point where they can't just rest on their laurels and assume their advantages and isolation will keep them safe.
    • Large military submarines carry torpedoes to attack ships and other submarines. They don't really have any weapon that can target divers. Real-life divers aren't a threat to subs because subs move too fast and dive too deep...but this doesn't apply to the Talokanil. They could easily destroy any ship or submarine that came anywhere near their cities. Wakanda, the most technologically advanced country on land, didn't have any way to fight the Talokanil underwater, so it's unlikely any other country could either.

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