Marvel Cinematic Universe

In other continuities like animated series, Wakanda actually did export some Vibranium to the rest of the world. It's how T'Challa paid for his university education abroad.

They do have a vast, incredibly complex spy network around the world (the War Dogs), so it's possible the War Dogs run some kind of shell corporation international trade to give the royal family the wealth to get around international countries.

About the only thing that keeps Wakanda from being a true utopia, is that it has a lot of social problems.

Well comic-wise at least. MCU-Wakanda appears to be very peaceful and unified inside while Comic-Wakanda is full of groups who want to kill each other.

The time skip since the last time Wakanda was happy gets wider every day. Just wait, they'll tell us everything went to shit years ago soon enough.

Assuming nearly everything the Border Tribe does is visible to the public, they likely would've made a stir in the scientific community by being able to domesticate rhinos and ride them in combat, something history has no verifiable record of as achievable.

Maybe they are simply using a lot of shell corporations to trade with the outside world. Officially Wakanda remains a poor country that occasionally sells some fine quality textiles that should take the backward country they appear to be a whole year and not a couple of hours to produce, but they may own a lot of companies across the world that sell trade in various "standard" goods that Wakandan tech allows to produce just as easily (only this time they pretend they were produced somewhere else). And Vibranium seems to allow a level of technology that allows them to live in a self-sufficient way.

As for Shuri being aware of memes, I don't think it would be too hard for her to hack the Internet. She probably even has a small server somewhere that performs regular backups of the whole Internet every night.

I'm reminded that Christopher Priest in his Deathstroke comic introduced Matthew Bland the Red Lion who is essentially Black Panther but evil.

And he is evil, being a huge racist who regularly engages in ethnic genocide to keep his precious country under heel.

Whats scary is probably a sizable sect of Wakanda's population would most likely love to have him as a leader over T'Challa.

Edited by slimcoder on Apr 23rd 2021 at 1:17:26 AM

I feel like we're conflating "wealthy" with "self-sufficient". Wakanda doesn't need the world's money if it can produce everything it needs for itself. You only need to trade if you, well, need to trade. It is clear that Wakanda doesn't.

I don't really want to get into the scientific issues around their giant shield, such as thermodynamics. It would be impossible to conceal the infrared output from satellites, for one thing. But as long as they can make everything then need or want using their own technology, they're fine.

Calling them wealthy or not then becomes a matter of semantics. Their standard of living is clearly extremely high as judged by the availability of food, housing, medical care, etc. If there is no established exchange rate between Wakandan currency and, say, dollars, then "per-capita GDP" is a meaningless figure.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 23rd 2021 at 6:32:41 AM

Well, they are self-sufficient, but also wealthy, since T'Challa was able to buy buildings left and right without a second thought. So even if they are a completely autonomous Hidden Elf Village they still have enough money to be wealthy by the standards of the rest of the world.

Then again, maybe the Wakandan royalty has been simply making wise financial investments over the years. It is not unheard of after all to have the royal family of even a poor country to be very wealthy.

In the comics, T'Challa also traveled abroad for his schooling, which is why in the comics he's an Omnidisciplinary Scientist.

That would make significant sense. Wakanda obviously has an international diplomatic presence as evidenced by its seat at the U.N., so it's reasonable to expect that its royal family would engage in some trading and have access to some wealth.

Edited by Fighteer on Apr 23rd 2021 at 6:55:16 AM

Man's got a Ph D from Oxford.

He's technically a doctor of something.

Herbology, one presumes.

Physics, actually. And in the comics, he's so passionate about it that he's outright admitted that if it weren't for the rest of his responsibilities as Black Panther and as a leader for Wakanda he'd be a physicist full-time.

He was on the Ultimates for a reason.

And awwww thats really cute, T'Challa is passionate nerd like Sheldon Cooper.

Edited by slimcoder on Apr 23rd 2021 at 4:18:41 AM

He'd be way happier teaching at a university and getting his research published in scientific journals.

Don't tell certain BP fans that. They really don't like that take on T'Challa.

Really why do they have an issue with that?

I can understand. Getting your papers published can be a gruesome ordeal your don't want to see your favourite hero going through.

I mean, my only issue with that is that’s pretty much Beast’s shtick.

Even as far back as T’Challa’s first Avengers stint he much preferred teaching to being an Avenger or kinging

Although often it seems he prefers anything to kinging

Nowadays Beast's shtick is fascism.

But he was the smart one!

@slimcoder The idea that T'Challa prefers being a scientist over being a hero was introduced in the Coates run which has been... controversial to say the least due to introducing stuff like chieftains abusing their power and civil unrest in Wakanda. Some also see T'Challa choosing science over his throne or superheroing as contradicting previous continuity and causing Badass Decay.

It does make sense though. Remember that the roles of King of Wakanda and the Black Panther were roles he was born to fulfill. They were things he was obligated to perform.

Physics otoh? That's a field he chose. It's something he actually wanted to study.