Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is a hodgepodge of ideas mashed up together to create an odd film. In many ways, it serves as a movie funeral not just to T'Challa, but to the actor, Chadwick Boseman as well. Grief and death are major themes in this film along with war.
How is the planet reacting to T'Challa’s death? Do they try to take advantage of the situation? If so, does Wakanda do an admirable job of handling the situation? There’s a lot to discuss in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever with the following quotes shedding some light on these questions.
Warning! Spoilers ahead.
8 “Does It Offer You Comfort Or Torment?”
Queen Ramonda says this to Shuri as they are exchanging words around the campfire. The Queen tells Shuri that she saw T'Challa upon reflecting at this very beach. Shuri is a bit of a non-believer, implying that it’s silly to imagine the dead. Her beliefs are in tangible things like science as she can control that matter of her life. The Queen’s point is the form of T'Challa that Shuri has been imagining in her head is probably one of torment given the way she has been acting.
7 “I Have More Soldiers Than This Country Has Blades Of Grass.”
Soon after this exchange at the campfire, Namor emerges out of the depths. He warns the two Wakandans that war is coming. Should Wakanda ally with Talokan, they can win the surface world back without much force. Should Wakanda refuse, they will be the first to be burned down. Saying a country has more soldiers than grass is an avid threat if true. Even if it isn’t, Namor’s point is that he is willing to do whatever it takes for revenge.
6 “You Brought A Spear In Here?”
Okoye and Shuri are sent off on a mission to find Riri before Namor and his people can kill her. Shuri convinces Okoye that she should go into the college alone seeing as how Shuri still looks age appropriate as a student.
This works well until Okoye gets impatient and sneaks into Riri’s dorm room. Both Riri and scream this line about the spear once Okoye brandishes her weapon. It’s not as bad as flaunting a gun around on a school campus, but it is overkill. This leads to a great action scene, which could rival one of the chases from the first movie.
5 “Oh Crap, She’s Got An Iron Man Suit!”
This line was yelled out by one of the random officers that stormed Riri’s garage. When she escapes in her homemade Iron Man suit, it scares the bejesus out of the force. Think about how scared law enforcement must be in the MCU. There are mech warriors all over the place, aliens, kids with superpowers, and the list goes on.
A cop does not want to have his day interrupted by something as wild as a student in a mech suit as if they have the power to deal with that. They would have presumably been more scared if she had her Ironheart suit instead.
4 “Only The Most Broken People Can Be Great Leaders.”
This is another wise sentiment shared by Namor. It does offer some truth to it even though he is trying to justify his mad actions as a villain in the MCU. The idea is that someone spoiled and born into power may not have as much worldly experience as someone who has suffered.
Namor and his people have suffered but also that was hundreds of years ago. His people thrive and seemingly love their nation underwater now. He is a ruler after all, so how broken can he be after that long of a time has passed?
3 “I Just Hung Up On My Mom, There’s A Difference.”
Queen Ramonda is worried about Shuri after the city is under attack via Namor. That’s why she calls her on the phone, but Shuri wants no part of that. Her ally is surprised she hung up on the Queen but Shuri corrects her and states that was her mom.
It must be difficult for any family that works together to figure out the difference between kinship and business. Where does one draw the line? It seems like Shuri knew where to draw it in that hilarious moment at least.
2 “The World Has Taken Too Much To Consider You A Child.”
Part of why Shuri is so messed up in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is because she feels this pressure to live up to her brother T'Challa. She has big shoes to fill considering he was a king alongside being a superhero.
Shuri had enough on her plate before that as she was a young scientist who was often not taken seriously. Shuri feels like she might still suffer from that judgment but M'Baku says this line to straighten her out. Any child that has seen the action Shuri has will grow up fast, especially with death on the table. It’s a classic setup in comics.
1 “Vengeance Has Consumed Us, But We Cannot Let It Consume Our People.”
For a second, it looked like Shuri would go against the typical hero formula and execute Namor. That would have been a big shocker in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever considering heroes don’t typically do that in movies. They stand for justice even in the most overwhelming circumstances.
Shuri is a more complicated character than Captain America, for example, who is the most honorable hero in the MCU. Shuri has a change of heart at this moment though and releases Namor with these wise words.