Review: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

 The King is Dead, long live the Queen.

Okay, finally, let’s get to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Sorry this took so long. Real life got real complicated for me during the end of November and all of December, so making this post was just not in the cards. And when we got to the end of January and I heard it’d be coming to Disney+, well, it just seemed like a good idea to wait and refresh myself. Wakanda Forever is the long await sequel to the 2018 film Black Panther. The film was delayed a few times, due to the tragic untimely passing of T’Challa’s actor, Chadwick Boseman, in 2020 of colon cancer. It was further delayed due to the script rewrites, as they’d decided not to recast T’Challa, and due to the Covid pandemic and actress Leticia Wright aka Shuri being an Anti-Vaxxer. I am so furious that Word recognized that word without me having to add it to the dictionary. This film is a tribute to the late Mr. Boseman and T’Challa, as we watch how the nation of Wakanda mourns its king in the face of a new threat. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

Wakada Forever

The film opens with Shuri frantically working on a synthetic version of the Heart-shape herb. She prays to the Panther god Bast for the ability to heal her brother. She says she’ll never question Bast’s existence again if this can work. T’Challa is dying of an unspecified illness, but it’s heavily implied to be cancer. Believing the herb could save him, but not having any of the stuff on hand after her cousin Killmonger’s coup attempt, she’s attempting to 3D print a suitable replacement. She’s able to make some with only a 29.1% chance of working… only to have her mother, Queen Ramonda, come in and inform her of T’Challa’s death. A large funeral is held for the passing of King T’Challa. His coffin, furnished with his Black Panther mask, is carried off by the Dora Milaje as pall bearers through the city before being taken to one of their air ships and flown out for burial.

 

I give Marvel massive props for changing the usual Marvel Studios Logo, where they show a ton of clips from their previous films, to a ton of clips of Chadwick Boseman. Rest in Peace, Chadwick Boseman. You were taken far, far too soon.

 

Hail the King.

We jump forward one year. Queen Ramonda is in a UN meeting to discuss the distribution of Vibranium. The world governments want more, she tells them no, they’ll keep getting what she gives them. She makes it clear that she’s only doing the trade as is due to her late son’s wishes. We jump between this scene and a research facility just outside the Wakandan borders, where several soldiers burst in and demand Vibranium. A researcher points them towards a vault where the Vibranium tools are kept. Back meeting hall, Ramonda accuses the UN leaders of playing nice in public but in private whispering that Wakanda is weak now that the Black Panther is dead and no one is able to replace them. She assures them this is not the case. In the lab, the Vault is revealed to have several Dora Milaje inside, led by Okoye because of course she is there, and one of the researchers pulls off her wig to reveal she is also a Dora Milaje. Leave it to Marvel to make a Black woman reaching for her hairline a terrifying precursor to what is about to happen. The Milaje beat the ever loving hell out of the soldiers, using their Vibranium weapons to disarm and disable all the guards with slashes and shocks from their spears.

 

At the meeting hall, Ramonda has Okoye and the Dora Milaje bring in the captured French soldiers, as proof of what happened. She’s willing to let this one go, but warns them that another attack will not be treated as kindly. She knows that other countries are trying to find Vibranium deposits outside of Wakanda and wishes them luck.

 

Attuma's coming to get you.

We jump to the Atlantic Ocean where a research facility is looking for Vibranium in the deep sea. A pair of divers are dispatched at a potential deposit. They find a deposit, a big one, that chewed up the drill head. They’re ordered to bring up the Vibranium detector as it’s a prototype and the only one they have. The rig loses power, though, as security starts hearing an odd singing. The divers are attacked and taken out by something in the ocean. The facility is attacked, the crew jumping into the ocean seemingly at the behest of a Siren like song. The chief researcher and guard put in earplugs. They ask for a strike team to arrive and prep the chopper for launch. They make it to the helicopter just as a group of blue humans in clothes similar to what the Mayans wore. The researcher runs for it as the blue people swarm the base. She makes it onto the copter and it takes off. They only fly off a short way before they’re attacked by something that grabs the copter, swings it around and throws it into the water. Hi Namor.

 

Sometime later, we travel back to Wakanda. Ramonda’s ship flies into Wakanda through its river boarder. There’s a neat visual of the guards tapping a rhythm onto a control panel full of water to disengage the shield to let them in. We find Shuri in her lab, working hard on solutions to unknown threats, as Ramonda comes in. Her main project is working on an exo-suit for their army. Ramonda asks if Shuri has made any progress on recreating the Heart-shaped herb, but before Shuri can answer she gets a call from Nakia. Shuri tells her AI Griot to ignore the call. Shuri tells her mother they don’t need the herb or the Black Panther, they need new technology. Ramonda reminds Shuri that this is the anniversary of T’Challa’s death and that she wants Shuri to come worth her on a trip. Oh, and no tech, so no Komoyo beads.

 

The Queen vs. the Sea King.

They travel to the outskirts of Wakanda, watching some elephants pass. Ramonda tells her that this is a ritual to process their grief. Basically, they need to sit with their thoughts, to feel the spirit of T’Challa in the world around them. Shuri tells Ramonda that T’Challa wasn’t “there” like Ramonda thinks, but a construct that her mind created for comfort. She asks Ramonda if her construct brings her comfort or torment. They continue the ritual, which is to burn their funeral garments to end their mourning period. Shuri says she can’t sit and think about T’Challa too long or she’ll burn the world and everyone in it instead of her funeral clothes. Ramonda is about to tell Shuri something, but is interrupted by the elephants freaking out. A moment later, Namor raises from the water on his little winged feet. He compliments the two on Wakanda’s air, but asks why they would ruin it by revealing themselves. Ramonda demands to know who he is. Namor introduces himself with the name his people gave him K’uk’ulkan. For mythology fans, this is the name of a Mesoamerican deity, the winged serpent. He's a big deal. He also gives them his usual name of Namor. He tells them that the US used a machine to find Vibranium in the ocean, that they repelled the invasion into his ocean but he needs Wakanda’s help to stop them from looking again. He tells them that because T’Challa revealed Vibranium’s power to the world, it’s only fair that they help him deal with this problem. He tells them to get the scientist and bring them to him, or he’ll… retaliate. He gives them a shell, telling them to blow into it and place it into the ocean to summon him. He says to not mention him to anyone outside off Wakanda and walks off. Ramonda grabs the shell, and in the brief time they looked away, Namor dropped the scanner by their campsite. Damn. Ramonda says they need to gather the council.

 

Later, M’Baku comes in and immediately starts picking fights with everyone. That’s my favorite vegetarian. He’s told to be quite and they begin the meeting. They learn that Namor swam underwater, not tripping any sensors, for 100 kilometers. The council wants to do what he says, as they have no Black Panther to protect them. M’Baku, still a dick but a correct dick, points out that they’re only Panther-less because the council backed Killmonger and let him burn all the Heart-shaped herbs. He suggests finding the ”fish man” and killing him, as if they do what he says now, there’s nothing to stop him from coming back and asking for more.

 

Ramonda enters Shuri’s lab. Shuri has gotten the tracker working, it can detect Vibranium through heavy metals, water, anything. She goes on to explain the device uses a combination of custom parts and, weirdly, stuff that looks like it was scavenged from a junkyard. When Okoye, who came with Ramonda, expresses disbelief that Vibranium could exist outside of Wakanda, Shuri sets her straight. 70% of the planet is covered in water, so it’s actually extremely likely that other Vibranium meteor impacts would be in the ocean. Okoye wants to go find the scientist, but wants Shuri’s help. Ramonda is very worried about letting Shuri out, but Okoye insists that she’ll keep her safe. Shuri, who’d overheard everything, asks when they’ll leave so she can see her favorite colonizer.

 

In Alexandria, Virginia, Shuri uses a robotic bug to draw Everett Ross’s attention and lead him to them while he’s on a run. They ask about the Vibranium detector scientist. They confirm that they have no idea about the attack on the rig to Ross. They want to tell him what happened, but can’t… because Namor. Ross, because he owes both Shuri and T’Challa’s memory, agrees to help them, even though it’s his head if anyone finds out he’d helped them. He warns them they must be careful as well as fast as the US needs another machine and this kid is the only one who knows how to make one.  

 

It's revealed the person who built the detector is none other than Riri Williams, a MIT student. We join her as she shakes down a fellow student for the money he owes her for helping him with a robotics project under the table. Shuri and Okoye report in and inform Ramonda that the “scientist” is a student at MIT. Ramonda tells them to bring her in. Okoye and Shuri argue for a bit on who is going to grab Riri, Okoye agreeing to send Shuri in first. She has five minutes.

 

Shuri goes in and Riri immediately geeks out about meeting the Princess of Wakanda. She reveals that she built the machine for a metallurgy class more or less because he said she couldn’t do it. The professor must have turned it over to the CIA after she turned it. Shuri tells Riri she’s in danger, and that she needs to come with her right now. Riri tries to pull the “I’m just going to use the bathroom and escape out the window” trick, but Okoye, expecting this, was waiting in there already. That woman is so scary, but also weirdly hot. Riri tries to resist, but Okoye is not taking no for an answer. They convince her to leave.

 

They head out to Riri’s workspace. She fixes trucks for the Sanitation department and is allowed to use the garage for her work. She has to get her work laptop. Okoye is surprised that she’d just leave that sort of thing laying around, but Riri tells her that her encryption is extremely complicated. She locked herself out once and it took a whole semester and building a quantum computer to get in. Shuri looks at some off her schematics and asks if she’s building Stark Tech, just as she gets an alert that police are on their way. Okoye sends out a bead that implants itself on the hood of their truck. They bicker for a minute while they plan an escape. It ends up with Okoye taking Riri’s car, Shuri taking her bike, and Riri suiting up. The FBI break in just as Riri finishes getting into her Iron Man suit frame and she stuns them with a couple shots from her cannon. The women lead the Police and FBI on a chase across the whole city.

 

They head for an extraction point on the other side of the river. A surveillance drone is tracking them, but Riri finds it and flies up to shoot it down. She passes out a second later because she didn’t have an oxygen mask or helmet. She almost crashes into the river but recovers. They make it to the bridge, but Riri gets harpooned from someone in the water and Okoye and Shuri get hit with a water bomb that causes them to crash. Shuri uses an energy shield to soften her landing but she still hits hard. Okoye recovers first, makes sure Shuri is okay and stopping the blue people from stealing Riri. A squad off them arrive, having been dropped off by whales. One, Namora, goes to kill the witnesses, the cops, while the big guy, Attuma, goes to fight Okoye. Well, he sends his three guards to fight her, but she takes them down. Attuma orders his team to help Namora and the fight is on. Okoye is, well, Okoye, so she fights well, but Attuma has super strength. He knocks her to the ground but lets her back up to keep fighting. He ends up slamming her against his planed ax, dislocating her shoulder. She distracts him with a shock from her spear, and pops her shoulder back. She tries to keep fighting but is ultimately defeated when Namora walks over and throws water bombs at her, knocking her into the water.

 

Shuri, having awoken, demands to speak with Namor. Attuma and Namora agree to take her, giving her Attuma’s breathing mask to help her breathe. Okoye raises just in time to see Shuri taken away by whale. Damn.

 

Ross arrives at the bridge, and learns that his boss, Valentina De Fontaine, is also on the case. Oh no. De Fontaine chats with one of the cops on scene and Ross finds Shuri’s Kimoyo beads. He pockets them as De Fontaine tells him to give her a ride to Langley Falls, an 8-hour drive, but that’ll give them time to talk about the case and for her to apologize about some of the things she said when they were married. Ouf, the info dump.

 

Okoye returned to Wakanda to give her report. She asks to be sent out immediately to save Shuri, but instead, Ramonda fires her. Okoye begs to be allowed to make it right, but Ramonda refuses. She has a very public breakdown about how her entire family has been taken from her and how she won’t give up anything else. This is clearly something that Ramonda has been bottling up for years, just saying. Okoye is stripped of her rank, she plants her spear and walks off.

 

Ramonda goes into Shuri’s lab. She calls out to Griot and asks what he knows, she has him reach out to her Komoyo beads. Ross plays off the beads going off as his new ringtone to get De Fontaine to leave and asks what the hell is going on. Ramonda tells him a new power is at play, but that’s all she can say. He wants to help, however he can and Ramonda says she’ll keep him in the loop. She as Griot if he can track Shuri’s Komoyo earrings. He admits he lost track of her in the North Atlantic, but has discovered they were speaking Yucatec Mayan.

 

Ramonda travels to Haiti. Why? That’s where Nakia has set up shop since the Blip. She asks the former War Dog and her son’s former lover to help getting Shuri back. Well, first she guilts Nakia a little for not being at T’Challa’s funeral, but then onto Shuri. She asks who on earth would risk war with Wakanda.

 

Shuri and Riri wake up in an undersea cavern. Guards come in and tells Shuri to put on the royal robes they prepared for her. Shuri takes them, despite Riri’s fears, and departs with Namora.

 

Meanwhile, Nakia made it to the Yucatan Peninsula. She pretends to be an anthropology student looking into strange happenings. The woman she talks to is defensive but agrees to talk to her when she says she saw “him” too. The old woman tells her about a beach where K’uk’ulkan has been seen raising from, but warns Nakia not to seek him out as he’s existed for long than either of them. Other who have looked for him have been lost to the depths forever.

 

Shuri is lead to Namor’s chamber. He has some lovely Mayan style art painted on the walls and other artifacts. Shuri deduces that everything is in the style of 16^th  century Mesoamerica and asks if he’s been alive for that long. Namor confirms that yep, he’s over 500 years old. She asks how, and he says “How is never as important as why.”

 

He explains his backstory. His mother and her people from their homes by conquistadors and disease. They turned to Chaac, their god of abundance and rain, for help. A shaman got a vision of an underwater herb, spouted from Vibranium, that when taken transformed their into people that could survive their new world. Namor’s mom was pregnant and didn’t want to take the potion for fear of what it’d do to her baby. The Shaman convinced her by promising that Namor would lead them as the first of their new people. The potion took away their ability to breathe air but gave them the ability to breath water. They settled underwater away from everyone. Namor’s mother birthed him, and he became the first born son of Talokan. See, you were probably wondering why I wasn’t calling the Blue People Atlanteans the whole time. That’s because Atlantis is just a myth here, as it is in the real world. Instead, we have the Mesoamerican themed secret underwater civilization, Talokan and the Talokanil. He describes himself as a Mutant, with the ability to breathe air like the ancestors, and to fly with his little ankle wings. When his mother died, Namor agreed to take her to be buried in her homeland. He found a plantation and Spanish slavers there. He had his people burn the plantation to the ground and they buried her on the grounds. That’s where he got his non-Talokan name, as a dying priest called him “The Child without Love,” “El Nino sin Amor.” If you think that’s a silly way to get his name, remember that Namor got his name specifically because it’s Roman backwards.

 

Shuri asks that Riri be turned over to her, offering to take Riri’s place as an insurance policy and send Riri to Wakanda. She admits to wanting to see Talokan. Namor, after faking her out about how she’d die in the ocean depths if she tried, outfitted her in one of the diver suits they stole and she gets brought to Talokan. Talokan is a beautifully lit underwater city. They use glowing stones to light the place and build their city in three dimensions, with basically every inch of space being put to some kind of use. They have a salute like Wakanda, too. While the Wakanda salute is to cross your arms over your chest, the Talokan salute is to hold their hands open like an open clam shell. Their city is lit primarily by a giant chunk of Vibranium that they use as an artificial sun.

 

Nakia arrived at the beach and got a signal from Shuri’s earrings. She finds the entrance into Talokan and sends a remote control sub to track Shuri. Nakia reports to Ramonda, who tells her to get Shuri out any way she can, and that she will try to draw Namor out. Nakia seals her helmet, dives in and gets into her underwater vehicle.

 

Namor, trying to earn Shuri’s favor, gives her his mother’s bracelet. They bond a little over the deaths of their loved ones. He tells her that a saying from his ancestors is “only the most broken people make great leaders.” Shuri tells Namor that she won’t leave without Riri and won’t allow her to be killed. They need to find a peaceful solution. Namor, instead, thinks that they a war with the surface world is inevitable and that he wants to know if Wakanda is friend or foe. He promises her that if they aren’t friends, they’ll be the first nation to fall. They’re interrupted by Namora telling Namor that he’d been summoned. He offers to burn the world together with her as he leaves.  

 

At CIA headquarters, Ross is trying to put out fires with Riri’s disappearance. Ross is informed that the president wants to begin retaliate, to destabilizing their government. And I laugh to myself at that plan. Ross wants to buy time and then informs Wakanda what’s happening.

 

Namor goes to meet with Ramonda. She asks if Shuri is alive. Namor tells her she is and Ramonda asks what she can do to get Shuri and Riri back. She threats to tell the Americans about them if they aren’t turned over to her. Namor promises to kill Shuri and Ramonda if she tries.

 

Shuri returns to Riri and lets her know what happened. Shortly thereafter, Nakia arrives and start taking people out. She is so cool. Shuri wants to save the Talokan guard, but Nakia tells her it’s now or never. They escape, despite this meaning war with Talokan. They hit the surface and are picked up by Ramonda’s ship. Mother and daughter hug and they head home.

 

Namor arrives and gets told by the dying guard what happened. She dies and Namor vows revenge. He gets into his full sea king regalia and descends into his shark tooth throne. He preps his people for the war to come.

 

Shuri arrives back at Wakanda and begins prepping for the assault. Aneka, one of the Dora Milaje from earlier, arrives to greet her. They discuss what happened to her. Shuri says that their underwater empire is beautiful but the Talokanil are dangerous. Ships fly out to do sweeps, and Talokanil are already in the river waiting.

 

Attack!

Everyone enjoys the moments breather. Riri is shown around Wakanda by Ramonda, and Nakia meets with Okoye, who is living out in the city. They hug and go to talk. Okoye admits that her leaving after Thanos’ attack hurt, and Nakia admits that she had to stay away because losing T’Challa wasn’t just her king, he was her everything. Their conversation is interrupted by sudden flooding followed by a tidal wave. Ramonda tells Shuri to stay in the lab, but she… hangs up on her and she and Aneka get into one of their ships to provide air support. The Talokanil attack, being drawn in by their attack whales. While the city is being flooded, Talokanil use their hypnotic voices to make EMT’s jump into the river. Ayo, the current captain of the Dora Milaje, gets her people to plug their ears and save a few of the EMTs. M’Baku starts fighting Talokanil soldiers, easily beating one and doing his gorilla chest beating. Meanwhile, Ramonda and Riri use the throne room controls to send the relief ships.

 

Namor arrives, and we learn that they intentionally drew defenses away from the palace to give Namor an opening to attack it directly. M’Baku, having spotted Namor coming to shore, goes to attack him. The Jabari breaks his club on Namor’s arm, and Namor shatters his breastplate with a punch, knocking him into a building and out. The ships arrive and start shooting at Namor but he leaps into the air and slashes at them with his Vibranium spear. I love how they animate his movements in the air. It’s less like flying and more like he’s leaping around on invisible walls. Shir and Aneka arrive and she shotos at Namor. He dives into the water and rockets away underwater. He gets under the ship and stabs the cockpit, causing it to crash.

 

Namor arrives at the palace and stabs at Ramonda through the glass. Nakia and Okoye find and retrieve Shuri and Aneka. Ramonda tells Shuri to run, just before Namor flies back and lobs water bombs at them. Ramonda wakes up first, swims down and saves Riri. Nakia and Okoye arrive in time to pull Riri and Ramonda out of the water. He tells them that he’ll return in a week. They can either fight with him or die. He tells Shuri to bury their dead and mourn their losses. They’re able to revive Shuri, but Ramonda is dead. M’Baku is the only think keeping Shuri from running to her and getting in the way as they tried to revive Ramonda.

 

They hold a funeral for the queen. M’Baku goes to speak with Shuri in private. He reveals that T’Challa asked him to try to advise and protect Shuri before he passed. He asks her for her advice, though, revealing that the elders asked that the capital be evacuated to Jabariilands. Shuri sarcastically responds that he’s coming for the advice of a child, and he tells her life has taken too much from her to be a child. He leaves her to think.

 

Shuri returns to her lab and take’s Namor’s mother’s bracelet.

 

Ross, meanwhile, has La Fontaine in his kitchen. She reveals that she’d had the Kimoyo beads bugged and she knows everything. He tries to stick up for the Wakandans but he ends up arrested.

 

Riri and Shuri try to think of a way to defeat Namor. They know they have to find a way to weaken him. Shuri takes the bracelet and has Griot analyze it and compares it to their artificial Heart-Shaped herb. At the same time, she and Riri examine Namor and realize that he’s physiologically different from the other Talokanil. They theorize that rather than gills, he gets oxygen directly from his skin. They theorize that, because he had to dive back into the water before attacking again, that he needs to hydrate to stay strong. She sends Riri to build a device to dehydrate Namor. Okoye is tasked to wear Shuri’s new armor, the Midnight Angel. Okoye hates the name and the look but is willing to help. She learns that two suits were made, so she grabs Aneka to wear the other one. Riri also takes time to build armor for her exosuit, finishing her first Iron Heart armor. Shuri finally gets the formula right, or 97% right.

 

Nakia goes to speak with her. She’s impressed that Shuri has figure out how to return Wakanda’s protector. They hold hands a Griot prints the herb. He does and it starts to glow, the sign that it works. Shuri takes the herb with Nakia and Riri watching her. Shuri wakes up in the throne room underwater. She swims up, and finds someone sitting in the throne. She hopes its T’Challa, but instead… it’s N’Jadaka, Killmonger waiting for her.  He tells her that he’s hear because she wanted him to be. She wants vengeance, and he’s the ancestor that best represents it. She calls him the Unworthy king. He responds that he’s the only King that actually did something. All the kings before him, and he admits T’Challa, stood apart from the world and were thus cowards. The throne room starts to burn as Shuri gets angry at the wraith of her cousin. She accuses him of causing all that. Killmonger asks her if she’ll be noble like T’Challa, or take care of business, like him.

 

A new Panther.

Shuri wakes up and claims to have not seen anyone in the Ancestral Plane. Shuri feels abandoned by her family and angrily punches a dummy, revealing she does in act have the strength of the Black Panther. Shuri suits up. She arrives in Jabariiland and presents herself as the Black Panther. So it’s going to be the Black Panther, the Midnight Angels, Iron Heart, and Wakanda vs. Namor and the Talokanil. Watch to see how the fight goes.

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

In the end, Shuri flies out to Haiti to visit Nakia. She is able to burn her funeral garb from T’Challa’s funeral. Finally willing to step forward, she’s introduced to Nakia’s son. He introduces himself as Toussaint, but then tells Shuri that’s just his Haitian name. His real name… Prince T’Challa, son of King T’Challa.

 

Okay, good first. Despite my feelings toward her vaccine stance, Leticia Wright is quite impressive as Shuri. Strong but conflicted, smart but angry, and just trying to fill the hole in her heart where her family were. Angela Basset is AMAZING as Queen Ramonda. She has two modes in this, Queen Ramonda, leader of Wakanda (Hat on), and Ramonda, the tired mother that is still grieving for her recently deceased son (hat off). She got award nominations for this performance and damnit she deserves it. I especially liked her breakdown in the throne room. So often, the plot of a film is largely self-contained. Getting acknowledgement that Ramonda remembered that most of her allies backed Killmonger and this very well could have been the first domino in her son’s untimely death, was a powerful moment. I especially liked that her last act was telling Riri to run and ultimately saving Riri at the cost of her own life. Ramonda was a warrior, (literally, she was a Dora Milaje) and she was smart enough to know that Riri would be too important to risk dying. Tenoch Huerta Mejia is great as Namor. He’s powerful, cunning, and absolutely ruthless. I think changing Namor and his people from citizens of Atlantis to Talokan was a very smart call. It gave the sea king and his people a look distinct from the usually vaguely Greek undersea kingdoms we’ve seen before. Plus, giving him the bracelets and Vibranium collar around his neck is way better than classic Namor’s look, which is just the speedo. I also appreciate that the whole movie is a love letter and goodbye to T’Challa/Chadwick. They did their best to honor both the character and man in the best way they could given the circumstances. I liked that they didn’t try to CGI him in or use a body double. No, T’Challa is dead but not forgotten.

 

The bad is minimal, but there. Ross’s whole plot seemed to just be there to give Shuri and Wakanda one clue and then to ex-patriate him. Look, I get Martin Freeman is a probably expensive, so they wanted to give him plenty of scenes, but they could have just cut him. I also think the film suffers a little from basically being a retread of Black Panther. I think they want Shuri in a similar place, mentally, that T’Challa was in so they can continue doing whatever stories they had planed for him but with her in his place. So, we have the conflicted ruler that has to decided between the traditional isolationist movement or the progressive inclusion movement. She needs to be angry with a deceased parent that she feels like she failed, and she needs to constantly be questioning if Wakanda part of the world is better than Wakanda alone. The design for the Midnight Angels suits is pretty bad. Okoye is 100% correct on that. And the final battle is underwhelming. Not Shuri v. Namor, that’s cool. The battle on the Sea Leopard was just kind of so-so to me.

 

Oh, and I totally guessed that Nakia had had T’Challa and her son in secret during the Blip with the first scene that mentioned her. Of all the reasons for an MC’s woman love interest to disappear for several years, secret baby is on the tippy top of that list. I’m glad that they made it canon that T’Challa got some time with little T’Challa before he passed.

 

Overall, I like Wakanda Forever. It was a nice way to say goodbye to T’Challa and Chadwick Boseman, honoring them and leaving the door open for the story to continue. My money is on them having Prince T’Challa taking over as Black Panther in a few years and that he’ll be the T’Challa to have a romance with Storm and some of the other T’Challa plots in the MCU. Namor was an excellent antagonist, cunning, powerful, and fully capable of growing beyond those negative traits if they want him to be more heroic going forward. A key character trait of Namor is being a dick, though, so don’t expect a full heel-face turn. Shuri being forced to deal with her grief and learning a little spirituality so she can be the Black Panther was a nice story to follow, even if the original sounded better. The story, had Chadwick Boseman not died, would have centered around T’Challa the Elder doing his best to bond with T’Challa the younger while dealing with the king beneath the sea. I like father and son stories, so sue me. It has me excited to see where Wakanda will go from here, where Iron Heart will go from here and Namor, too. Solid movie overall, just dragged down a little by a feeling of retreading old ground and a few unnecessary plots. 

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Villain Profile: M'Baku

He's hear to kick ass and smack his chest like a gorilla, and he's all out of asses to kick.

Okay, so I’m still feeling pretty burnt out, so I think that I’m going to delay Black Panther: Wakanda Forever for the beginning of 2023. Sorry, but a full-length movie feels like a lot given the last few days. But, to at least do something Black Panther themed, I’ll do a quick Villain profile for one of T’Challa’s big villains, M’Baku. Fair warning, I’ll only be referring to him by his real name for this one. Again, sorry, but I just feel a little dirty referring to him by his supervillain alias the Man-Ape. Like, I felt ill saying it that one time to acknowledge that is in fact his name. M’Baku is overall a minor character in the Black Panther mythos, but his prominence in the MCU makes me think that he’s going to be given greater focus in the years to come. Enough preamble. Let’s get to it.

 

I honestly don't know if Gorilla
beats Panther or not.

M'Baku began life in the Jabari village in the outskirts of the African nation of Wakanda. M’Baku trained relentlessly and became known as one of the country’s greatest warriors. As he grew in skill and renown so did his ambition. Wanting to take control of the nation and return it to a ‘survival of the fittest” mentality, M’Baku made plans for a coup while T’Challa was away working with the Avengers. He revived the cult of the White Gorilla to meet this end. The cult had been outlawed by the ruling Panther cult centuries before. To show off his dedication and to make himself a match for the Black Panther, M’Baku hunted down and killed a rare white Gorilla that lives in the mountains of Wakanda. He ate its flesh and bathed in its blood to imbue himself with mystically enhanced strength. He also took to waring the skin of the gorilla he killed in like Hercules did with the Nemean Lion skin.

 

When T’Challa returned to Wakanda with the Avengers, he found M’Baku waiting, and the gorilla skin usurper challenged his king to trial by combat. M’Baku planned to defeat T’Challa and outlaw the advanced technology and return the country to a simpler, survival of the fittest lifestyle. After a long battle, M’Baku bested T’Challa. He tied the king to a statue of the Panther God Bast and intended to push it over and crush him, but the statue instead crumbled, burying M’Baku. T’Challa returned to New York to continue working with the Avengers, believing his enemy dead, but M’Baku was dug up by his supporter N’Gamo and he began to prepare for another battle with the Black Panther.

 

M'Baku became a recurring villain for T’Challa. He often served on villainous teams as the villain opposite of the Black Panther. He served on the Lethal Legion, a villain team run by the Grim Reaper. This didn’t last long, as the Reaper is openly racist and obviously, he got fed up with that. He also worked with an incarnation Masters of Evil. Weirdly, he did get an invite to T’Challa’s wedding where he and Ororo Monroe (aka Storm) where he tried to pick a fight with Spider-Man after he got totally wasted on scotch. Sounds like a wedding with my family. Ha. I wonder if he ever got pissed off that Killmonger got to usurp T’Challa’s place as king of Wakanda. I can’t seem to find a summary that talks about them interacting. What are you going to do?

 

He's really in your face, this guy.

M'Baku was a strong man and gifted fighter before he gained his superpowers. After bathing in the blood of and eating the flesh of a sacred white gorilla, M’Baku gained enhanced strength, speed, agility, stamina, and durability. Your standard Strongman powerset.

 

M’Baku is a recurring antagonist and rival to T’Challa in various media. His portrayals vary from generic to truly noble.

 

M’Baku was a minor villain in the excellent The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, portrayed by Kevin Michael Richardson. In the short episode “Welcome to Wakanda” M’Baku challenged T’Challa’s father T’Chaka for the throne. T’Chaka was bested and killed by M’Baku, with unseen help from the evil Ulysses Klaw. T’Challa fled the country and went to New York to seek aid from the fledgling Avengers. While he’s away, M’Baku and Klaw made plans to sell the Vibranium Mound, one of Wakanda’s most precious resources, to HYDRA. In “Panther’s Quest” T’Challa returns with his allies and battles M’Baku again. Despite using the same device that let him best T’Chaka, T’Challa is able to defeat M’Baku and later Klaw, who’d turned into a monster, and free his people.

Biggest villain glow up since Marvel comics
made The Prowler's nephew a Spider-Man.

 

A significantly more heroic version of M’Baku appears in the MCU. M’Baku is portrayed by Winston Duke. In this continuity, the Jabari are one of the tribes of Wakanda, the only one that originally didn’t want in on the pact that formed the nation of Wakanda under the Panther tribe. He’s never referred to by his alias, but it’s made reference to in the fact the Jabari worship a gorilla god named Hanuman instead of the Panther God Bast, and they wear armor stylized after Gorillas. M’Baku even has a habit of beating his chest like gorilla as a combination personal psyche up and intimidation check against his opponents. He first appears with the Jabari during T’Challa’s coronation ceremony, where any member of the five tribes can challenge the prospective king to single combat without his powers. T’Challa and M’Baku fight, but the Panther beats the Gorilla by getting him into a grapple. He returns later when T’Challa’s mother Ramonda, his sister Shuri, agent Ross, and his girlfriend Nakia flee Killmonger’s hostile takeover of Wakanda. They offer him the Heart-Shaped herb if he’ll fight Killmonger and avenge T’Challa but he instead informs them that T’Challa is alive and receiving medical aid from them. During the climax, he and the Jabari arrive at the last minute to help T’Challa regain control of Wakanda.

 

In later MCU projects, M’Baku serves as one of T’Challa’s advisors and confidants. By the events of Wakanda Forever, he’s been placed as an advisor to the dowager Queen Ramonda after T’Challa’s death and tries to be a friend and ally to the grieving Shuri, to mixed results.

 

When I started writing this post, I had assumed that M’Baku was the Black Panther’s version of the Abomination, or Venom, or even Whiplash, but honestly his sparce appearances and list of accomplishments is way more reminiscent of the Scorpion when I did research for his post. A visually iconic villain that is a physical match for the hero but has rarely done much to distinguish themselves as a real threat. I have to assume that’s at least a little bit due to how… ookie… it is to have a Black man wearing the skin of a White Gorilla. HP Lovecraft called; he wants his extremely ham-fisted metaphor back. Another could be that he just sort of serves as a starter villain for T’Challa, much like the Enforcers did with Spider-Man. He is the baseline that T’Challa builds off as he begins facing off against more cunning villains. Or, he might have just been following T’Challa’s path, as it were. I saw Wakanda Forever at the Alamo Drafthouse theater. For those whom have never been, they like to start MCU movies (possibly others) with a sort of ‘spotlight’ that gives context on the history of the characters and their portrayal in the MCU and behind the scenes stuff. It’s how I learned that for Dr. Strange, the MCU hired a dancer who specialized in specifically finger movements to help Benedict Cumberbatch come up with the movements for Strange’s spells. For Black Panther’s, one of the artists that was interviewed pointed out there was a ten or fifteen year time span where T’Challa was there with the Avengers, but he really didn’t do anything. He was stuck in a holding pattern, so I guess his villains might have been too. Who knows. I kind of hope that the comics are considering giving him an alignment make over to make him more of a support character to T’Challa than as an antagonist. What? I like Winston Duke and would like his portrayal to be canon. I’m not apologizing. I have greatly preferred the honorable, heroic M’Baku to the dastardly villain, and again, I’m not apologizing. And that’s all I have to say about that. Next time, The holiday special. I’ll see you there. 

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Review: Avengers: Endgame pt. 1 The Assault (No Spoiler)

All things come to an end. It is inevitable.

Let’s talk Avengers: Endgame. The story that began eleven years ago with Iron Man, that went on to span twenty-one different films has come to a close. We’ve seen a self-centered industrialist become an armored champion, a soldier out of time rally the troops, a jade titan find a home, a being of legend fall from grace and reclaim his glory, a pair of assassins transform into cunning allies, a king become both champion and envoy of his people, a man of science embrace the mystic, and a group of outlaws save planets. Just to name a few. Oh, and Spider-Man is there now too. Ha. They faced off against the Mad God Thanos last time, and while the different groups of Avengers put on valiant fights, Thanos ultimately overcame them all and used the Infinity Gauntlet to kill 50% of life. This is a massive film, so I think you can understand why I want to break it down into multiple parts. Don’t want to overload your eyes and brains with my nerd gushing. So, let’s get to it.

The Avengers have to avenge
50% of all life. Tall order.

We open on Tony and Nebula onboard the Guardian’s ship, the Milano. Despite captain Peter Quill’s death due to The Snap and ship’s engineer Rocket Raccoon being on Earth, the two were able to jerry rig the ship to fly, at least for a while. It does help having the world's fore most engineer on the ship. While they made it most of the way from Thanos’ homeworld of Titan, the ship still broke down about 1000 light years from Earth. Tony, fearing the worst, records a goodbye message to Pepper. He knows it’s an insanely long shot of anyone back home finding their ship, but he feels better leaving the message to her that he drifted off dreaming about her. He passes out, while the cyborg Nebula makes sure he’s comfortable. Just when all hope seems lost, Tony is awakened by a blinding light. It’s not a supernova, it’s Captain Marvel. Carol grabs the ship and takes them home, lickety-split.

Back home, the surviving Avengers recap to Tony and the audience what happened. That Thanos overcame the Avengers and the massive Wakandan Army to get the last Infinity Stones, did his big Snap, and 50% of all life was Dusted. Well, sentient life, anyway. What? Aside from Groot, I saw no other foliage disappear. Combining resources with Nebula and Rocket, they’re able to track down Thanos to his hidey-hole on the other side of the galaxy. They detected a massive energy burst unique to the Infinity Gauntlet on a planet that Nebula called the Garden. Thanos talked to her about it while mutilating her and upgrading her cybernetic components. Great dad right there. To the groups shock, Tony tells them to piss off. He’s tired and obviously broken after their defeat at Thanos’ hands. I have to imagine holding your young student in your arms as he fades away into ash does have that effect on a guy. He hands over his portable Arc Reactor and tells them to run and hide. Despite that setback, the team moves forward. It’s Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Captain Marvel, Rocket, Nebula, War Machine and Banner in the Hulk Buster to save the day.

…

And that’s all you’re getting out of me. For now, anyway. I’ve spent the last few days agonizing over how best to approach this one. On the one hand, I want to gush about this movie, everything it did right and how overall amazing it is. On the other, I hate to give too much away and ruin someone else’s first experience of it. Honestly, I wish I could Neuralize myself ala Men In Black so I could watch it again for the first time. So, I came up with this little compromise. I’ll only talk about the first fifteen minutes of the movie here, and do a more in-depth analysis next month. That should give everyone who honestly wants to see it spoiler free a chance to see it and allow me to gush in detail later.

That all being said, I will give you broad strokes. This is perhaps the BEST send off for several Marvel Characters. It’s no secret that Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans for sure are done with Marvel Movies after this one, as they haven’t signed new contracts. For them, and several other legacy Avengers, this was their last Rodeo. And by God, it delivers. I think of Logan, and how that was a bittersweet but perfect send off for Logan and Professor X as played by their definitive actors. And this was that for those who have decided to bow out. It highlights their strengths, their humanity, and tugged at my heart strings in just the right way to make me feel truly sad that we won’t be seeing some of these guys again.

The effects are gorgeous, both on the massive, planet wide scale down to the intricate details that go into digitally altering a character’s face.

I have loved these movies and these characters since first seeing Iron Man with my older brother in theaters when I was a teenager. The Marvel Cinematic Universe encapsulated everything I love about Marvel characters, costumed superheroes, and big budget effects while changing just enough to make the stories accessible to those who don’t know how many Iron Men, Captain Americas, or Black Panther’s there’ve been. And to fill in gaps in the roster that the lack of ownership of several key characters caused. It’s been a long, strange and bumpy trip these last eleven years. And while it brings a tear to my eye to let some of them go, it was still a hell of a ride. And there’s the promise of whatever comes next. But after the decade’s long Infinity War Saga, whatever does come next has some pretty big shoes to fill.

There’s so much more I want to say. Hell, it was a three-hour movie, I could probably write a full twenty-page essay on the damn thing. And it would be fantastic, just saying. But, saying even one thing more would ruin several twists that even I didn’t see coming. And this stuff is what I spent my free time think and writing about. I’ll just close by saying, to everyone that has ever starred in, worked on, and enjoyed the exploits of the big screen Avengers, it’s been a fantastic ride and I wish you all the very best.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Review: The Avengers: Infinity War

Death has come hunting.

Well, it all comes down to this. Ten years, Nineteen movies, dozens of characters, all building to this showdown. The Mad Titan Thanos has grown tired of waiting and is now actively searching for the six Infinity Stones. He plans on bringing the stones together and use them to wipe out half of all life in the Universe. May the Asgard help those who stand in his way.

A big cast for a colossal problem.

We open to the Asgard Ark being bombarded. Well, crap. The refugee gods were set upon by Thanos and his Black Order. Here’s a quick roll call, something the movie doesn’t bother with. First, we have Ebony Maw, he is an insanely powerful telekinetic and serves as the ‘preacher’ of Thanos.  He mostly stands around shouting about how glorious it is to die at the hands of the Mad Titan. Next, we have Cull Obsidian, the giant bruiser. He’s the resident powerhouse of the group, he is mostly brought along to break things. FYI, in just about everything else he’s referred to as Black Dwarf. And finally, we have Proxima Midnight, and her husband Corvus Glaive. They’re a pair of peerless warriors that serve as more discrete assassins then their cohorts. And leading them is Thanos, the Mad Titan and bringer of doom. He’d already gained the purple Power Stone from Xandar offscreen. Thanos and his minions lay waste to the Asgardians. Even the best efforts of Thor, Loki and the Hulk are useless against Thanos. Using the last of his strength, Heimdall is able to open a Bifrost Bridge, flinging Hulk towards Earth. Thanos stabs him through the chest for that. Thanos tortures Thor, to try and force Loki to hand over the Tesseract, which he stole from the Asgard Vault before their home’s destruction. And, to everyone’s shock, he hands it over to get Thanos to spare his brother’s life. Thanos shatters the cube, retrieving the stone within and places it on his glove. Loki then tries to offer his services to Thanos, as a guide while on Earth. This turns out to be a ruse to get in close and stab the Mad Titan right in his enormous chin. Unfortunately, he sees it coming and strangles Loki to death. He and his crew depart, bombarding the Asgard ship to debris with Thor still inside.

Even Loki would have trouble talking his way out of this.

Hulk hurtles across space and time, crash landing in Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Santorum in New York City. Hulk reverts back to Banner and tells the Sorcerer Supreme and Wong about what is coming. In order to stop this, Strange picks up Tony Stark, whom was in the middle of unsuccessfully convincing fiancée Pepper Potts that they should have a baby. They get Tony just in time, as Ebony Maw and Cull Obsidian have arrived in New York to steal the Time Stone from Dr. Strange. Unfortunately, Banner is unable to Hulk-out, so the heroes are at a disadvantage. Spider-Man, who saw the colossal ship the two Black Order were using, swings in to assist. The team is able to disarm, dis-hand, and strand Obsidian somewhere in the arctic, but Maw is able to overpower Strange and takes him to the ship. Peter hitches a ride on the ship but is nearly killed when the ship leaves the upper atmosphere. Tony summons up the Iron Spider Armor to help Peter, and by help, I mean tries to use it to force him back to Earth. It doesn’t work, so He and Iron Man are stuck on the cruiser. Street side, Banner takes the burner cellphone that Tony had dropped as the fight began to call Cap.

Meanwhile, in Glasgow, Scotland, Wanda Maximoff and Vision are finishing up a ‘secret’ rendezvous. The two have been carrying on a private relationship, despite Wanda’s status as a fugitive, since that Civil War fiasco. Just as the two are about to part ways, they’re attacked by Proxima and Glaive. The Black Order carry weapons that seem to counter-act Vision’s phasing powers, and nearly rip the Mind Stone from his head. But, back up arrives in the form of Captain Rogers, Black Widow, and Falcon. The three relatively normal humans force the two aliens back, for now. They grab Vision and take him back to the new Avengers Facility. James Rhodes is there, and ordered to arrest the fugitives, but he decides to ignore that order. Vision, knowing what will happen if Thanos gets the Mind Stone, asks Wanda to use her Chaos powers to destroy it. She refuses, as doing so will kill Vision. With few options, the heroes decide to take Vison to the one place on Earth that might be able to do something about the Mind Stone that could leave Vision intact, Wakanda.

Meanwhile, The Guardians of the Galaxy arrive at the wreckage of the Asgard ship. They’d received the distress call earlier. They hit Thor, literally, and bring him onboard. The last of the Aesir, after recovering, proposes a plan to the alien team. Feeling underequipped without Mjolnir, Thor wants to travel to Nidavellir, to see the Dwarf king and master weaponsmith Eitri. Why? So he can build a weapon capable of killing Thanos. But, at the same time, he feels someone should go to the space station Knowhere to check on the Collector, whom currently holds the Reality Stone. Thor had the Warrior’s Three give it to him at the end of Thor 2. Thor, Rocket Raccoon, and Groot go to Nidavellir, and Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis go to Knowhere.

Such a colorful collection of characters.

Back with Team Iron Man, Tony and Peter try to think of a way to beat Ebony Maw. And, actually, Peter has a perfect plan. They ripoff the ending to Aliens. Peter and Tony distract Maw for a second, then blow a hole in the side of the ship to cast him into the void. Peter and Steven almost get pulled out too, but hey, no plan is perfect. Without Maw to drive the ship, though, they’re stuck heading for it’s destination, Titan.  

On Nidavellir, Team Thor learns that the station is dark, and that the dwarves are all dead save Eitri. The rather giant Dwarf reveals that he made Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet, in the foolish hope that Thanos would spare Nidavellir if he got what he wanted. Instead, the Mad Titan killed the dwarves and chopped off Eitri’s hands. Thor is able to convince Eitri to help them, and they set about forging Thor’s new weapon, the half-hammer half-axe Stormbreaker. They have a slight issue with the forging process, which leads to Thor having to manually holding open a valve and be blasted by a solar Prominence to forge it. Groot offers up some of his own wood to give Stormbreaker it’s hilt.

On Knowhere, Team Star-Lord find Thanos already there and torturing The Collector for the Stone’s location. Despite Quill’s best attempts at forming a spontaneous plan, Gamora rushes in and stabs her adoptive father in the neck. Well, that was easy. That’s a real short movie. Kind of anti-climactic really.

…

Okay, that’s not what happened. Turns out, Thanos already had the Reality Stone and used it’s powers to draw them into Knowhere, and then out into the open. The Thanos that Gamora killed was an illusion, and all of Knowhere is actually on fire. After a very short fight, Thanos grabs Gamora and flees. On Thanos’ ship, Thanos reveals that he captured Nebula, and through the Cyborg’s memories learned that Gamora knows where the Soul Stone is hidden. Gamora tries to feign ignorance but relents to spare her sister’s life. It's on a planet called Vormir. They travel to Vormir and are greeted by the Soul Stone’s Guardian. Turns out, it’s Red Skull. Oh, so that loose end is finally tied up. Apparently, he’s spent the last seventy or so years as a disembodied spirit, watching over the Stone and being tortured by the knowledge that it will never be his. Through him, they learn that the only way for someone to acquire the Soul Stone, is to sacrifice a soul in return. Gamora, for a moment, thinks that the heroes win, as who in creation could Thanos possibly love? Unfortunately, there is one. A little girl that he’d spared twenty years prior and molded into his perfect warrior. With tears in his eyes, Thanos casts Gamora onto the Alter. Killing her and winning the Stone. Meanwhile, Nebula is able to escape her bonds, and get’s a message out to Mantis to meet her on Titan.

On Titan, Team Iron Man and Team Star-Lord meet, fight, have a Mexican Standoff, and then realize that they’re all on the same side. While the others try to formulate a plan, Dr. Strange uses the Time Stone to see into the future. Of the millions of possibilities that lay before them, only one can assure them victory.

Team Rogers arrives in Wakanda, where they meet with Black Panther and Winter Soldier. The team consult with Princess Shuri, the Panther’s sister. Shuri believes that she could remove the Stone, but it’ll take some time. She’s got to very carefully cut and rewire trillions of synapsis if they want to make this work. And the Black Order is on their way. Realizing what is coming, Black Panther orders the city of Wakanda to be evacuated, and all of their forces gathered to the battlefield.

Wakanda Forever!

So, there you have it, on Titan, it’s Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Mantis, Drax the Destroyer and Nebula vs. Thanos. On Earth, it’s Captain Rogers, Black Panther, Black Widow, War Machine, Falcon, Winter Soldier, M’Baku, General Okoye, and the assembled forces of Wakanda vs. The Black Order and the armies of Thanos. Thor, Groot, and Rocket are able to Bifrost in using Stormbreaker part way through the battle. And Banner, who still can’t transform for some reason, is piloting the Hulk-Buster Armor. This is going to be a big brawl.

The good first. Everyone is phenomenal in their roles. I’d do a casting calling, but that’d take two pages at least. Just know that everyone from central characters like Iron-Man and Captain Rogers, all the way down to one-scene guys like Pepper and Wong are giving it their all. FYI, I have it on good authority that Peter Dinklage has always refused to take roles stereotypical for those whom have dwarfism. I assume that the fact that they used CGI to make Eitri bigger then just about everyone is the main reason he decided to let that rule slide. I liked what they did with Thanos. They toned down his more insane characteristics. There’s no mention of the Death Goddess he’s in love with, or hints at insanity. Instead, he’s portrayed as an extreme proponent of… I guess it’s best described as controlled genocide. In this version of events, his homeworld of Titan was ultimately destroyed due to overpopulation. He proposed, and was called mad for suggesting, that they randomly kill fifty percent of their population to reduce the burdens on their resources. No one listened, Titan was destroyed, and Thanos set about purging planets on his own. So yeah, he’s still insane, but there is a little justification to said insanity this time around.

Honestly, the only real negative that I could think of, as a Marvel fan mind you, was there was not enough screen time to go around. Each of these impromptu teams, Cap and co on Earth, Iron-Man and friends on Titan, and Thor’s team adventures on Nidavellir could have had a full-length feature all to themselves. Sure, Team Iron-Man and Team Quill’s would have meshed together pretty early, but it would have been doable. But then, as this movie is already split in two, maybe it’s for the best.

A+ all around. This movie is all that it needed to be. It was action packed, funny, and a treat for the eyes. Given how much work was put into the setup, the aforementioned ten years and nineteen movies, it’s a real wonder that this was able to meet, and in my case exceed, expectations. Thanos has come, and all of creation will tremble with his passing.

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Review: Black Panther

Hail to the King.

Fun zoology fact for you all to start this one out. As some of you may know, Black Panthers aren’t really a thing. They are actually any species of big cat, though typically Jaguars or Leopards, that has Melanism. Basically, their bodies produce more Melanin then normal, making their fur much darker. If you look closely, you can still see the spots on these cats. It’s the polar opposite of being an albino. Weird, right? But hey, can’t expect people to just get that just by looking at the animals, right? Enough zoology, let’s get to it.

It's a good group.

We open on a brief history of Wakanda, as illustrated by little Vibranium beads. Millions of years ago, a Vibranium meteor struck the continent of Africa, seeding the area around it with the alien metal. It altered the land, the vegetation, and the animals around it. Fast forward to when humans are a thing, and five tribes discover this bizarre bit of land. The five tribes did battle until one, lead on by his Panther God, ingested a heart-shaped herb. This herb gave him super powers, the strength, speed and agility of the mighty Black Panther. The first Panther united his and three of the other tribes, while the fifth, the Jabari, preferred to stay isolated in their mountain home. Over the centuries, Wakanda used the alien metal and its bizarre properties to accelerate their development. Basically, before the rest of the world had planes, they were about a hairs breadth from that Arthur C. Clarke quote. You know “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” They decided to keep their advancement hidden from prying eyes, and in the modern age Wakanda is viewed as an isolationist, third world country.

We jump farther forward, to Oakland in the early 90s. There, King T’Chaka of Wakanda visits his brother N’Jobu. N’Jobu is one of the War Dogs, a group of spies that Wakanda has sent around the world to keep an eye on things. T’Chaka informs N’Jobu about an arms dealer named Ulysses Klaue attacking Wakanda and stealing their precious Vibranium. He accuses his brother of helping Klaue, as Klaue would have needed insider help to figure out where to hit. N’Jobu denies it, until his buddy James reveals himself to also be a War Dog. They have these Vibranium tattoos across the inside of their lower lip to identify themselves. James, real name Zuri, had informed T’Chaka of the Prince’s actions. T’Chaka tells his brother that he’ll be brought back to Wakanda to be judged for treason.

In the present day, king T’Chaka is dead, and his son, T’Challa is expected to succeed him. To facilitate this, he and his scary as heck body guard, General Okoye, extract another War Dog from an undercover opt. I’m sure the fact that the agent, Nakia, is his ex has nothing to do with his desire to collect her. And by extract, I mean that T’Challa and Nakia end up killing most of the enemy force. They take Nakia back to Wakanda and prepare for the ceremony. The ceremony, which takes place in a partially dammed waterfall, involves the four tribes of Wakanda being given the option to Challenge T’Challa for the right to rule. “But wait,” I hear someone asking, “wouldn’t that be incredibly unfair? He has superpowers!” And you’d be right, but the elders of Wakanda have an elixir that T’Challa is required to take that strip him of his powers, to make it a fair fight. Obviously, as the heir of the Panther Tribe, T’Challa gets an automatic pass from his mother, Ramonda, and sister, Shuri. The other three Tribes also pass on the option, but then the Jabari tribe show up. The tribe’s leader, M’Baku, challenges T’Challa. Wait, so they didn’t want to be a part of Wakanda initially, but still get a say in the coronation? Odd. T’Challa and M’Baku fight, and while it’s close, T’Challa triumphs. The final part of the ceremony has T’Challa drink the Heart-Shaped herb again, and take a spiritual walkabout. He’s greeted by his father in the afterlife, whom gives T’Challa the advice to surround himself with capable allies.

Is there any monster more terrible then one that
need not been?

Meanwhile, Klaue and a mysterious man named Erik Stevens steal a Vibranium hammer from a museum. Which of course gets the attention of Wakanda. T’challa, against the wishes of his council, elects to stop Klaue, once and for all. He, Nakia, and Okoye move out. They infiltrate a hidden casino in Busan, South Korea, and interrupt the trade that Klaue had set up. Turns out, Klaue was going to sell the Vibranium to Agent Everett Ross, a CIA operative that T’Challa met during that whole Civil War fiasco. A firefight breaks out, and T’Challa’s team gives chase. After smashing up several cars and trying out a bunch of new features in his upgraded Black Panther suit, they capture Klaue. T’Challa wants to take Klaue back to Wakanda, but Everett isn’t budging. Especially not after he has a few words with Klaue, who tells Everett that Wakanda’s international image is just a façade. The fact the country’s king runs around in a nanite cat suit, has a stealth plane, access to highly advanced weaponry which includes a means of remote controlling cars, and Fought. The. AVENGERS! really should have tipped him off. Just saying. Their discussion is cut short when Erik and his crew bust out Klaue, mortally injuring Everett in the process. As they escape, T’Challa sees that Erik has a signet ring disturbingly identical to his own. Because Everett was injured protecting Nakia, and has proven to be a… decent guy, T’Challa elects to take him to Wakanda for healing rather than chasing Klaue.

While Shuri works on Everett’s shattered spine, she can fix that in less then a day, T’Challa confronts Zuri about what he saw. About the man with the ring like his, the ring that was inherited from T’Challa’s grandfather. Zuri, whom is now some kind of high priest, doesn’t wish to speak of it, as he promised the old king his silence. To which T’Challa angrily orders him, as the New King, to speak. Well, that’s a right pickle to be in, isn’t it? Zuri explains that, when T’Chaka went to see his brother, he learned some disturbing things. N’Jobu had gone native while living in the US, and helped Klaue in a bid to get Vibranium weapons and distribute them to the ‘oppressed’ people of the world to start a revolution. They never actually say it, but it’s HEAVILY implied that N’Jobu is specifically talking about people of African Descent. Not just in America, but worldwide. T’Chaka scolds his brother, telling him that this isn’t their way. N’Jobu attacks Zuri in a fury, but T’Chaka saves Zuri, killing his brother. T’Chaka ordered Zuri to stay silent. When they returned home they lied and said that N’Jobu disappeared, and they left N’Jobu’s son in America to keep the lie secret. T’Challa is rocked by his father’s actions.

The King has returned.

Meanwhile, Erik “Killmonger” Stevens kills Klaue and brings his body back to Wakanda. He reveals himself to T’Challa and the elders, and demands to fight his cousin for the title of Black Panther. While highly unorthodox, apparently Erik is within his rights to challenge for the throne. The two do battle. They begin evenly matched, but Erik gets the upper hand and nearly kills T’Challa. Zuri begs for his king’s life, admitting his involvement in N’Jobu’s death. Erik kills Zuri with a spear thrust, and then chucks T’Challa from the waterfall. How does the saying go? The King is dead, Long live the King? Nakia spirits the Queen Ramonda and Shuri away to protect them. She tries to get Okoye to join them, but Okoye must refuse. She’s the leader of the Dora Milaje, the Panther tribe’s elite guardswomen. They’re loyal to the throne, not the king, so she’s honor bound to following Erik. She’s clearly torn up about it, but choses her side. Erik ingests the Heart-Shaped Herb, becoming the Black Panther, and then orders the grove they grow the stuff in burned. Thankfully, Nakia snuck in and stole one of the herbs.

While Erik prepares to distribute the weapons, Nakia, Shuri, Ramonda, and Everett travel to the Jabari’s mountains. They offer M’Baku the herb, in exchange they want him to fight and kill Erik. It’s an enemy of my enemy situation. Rather than take the readily offered superpowers, M’Baku reveals that his people had recovered a comatose T’Challa from the river and were keeping him alive as repayment for T’Challa sparing him. The group prepare the herb, feed him, and restore T’Challa’s powers. Initially a little groggy, he vows to stop Erik from completing his plan. So, it’s T’Challa and his entourage vs. Erik and the bulk of Wakanda’s army. What could possibly go wrong?

The Dora Milaje, aka the most terrifying group of warriors.
Ever.

The good first, as per usual. Everybody was perfect in their roles, from Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa to Michael B. Jordan as Erik Killmonger. There was a lot of energy and passion to their roles. The rivalry between these two is pretty good, especially given the fact that they don’t even meet until about half way through it. T’Challa’s internal dilemma, on whether to uphold the isolationist principles of his ancestors, or to embrace the world like his contemporary allies want feels like a really relevant plot for today. Is it better to be walled off, safe, but unwilling to help those that you can, or open and helpful to everyone they can but as vulnerable as everyone else. Huh, sounds like what we’re doing here in America, doesn’t it? Danai Gurira as Okoye was also really great. She was intimidating as heck, with her bald head and her sonic spear. Which is pretty impressive, given the body she’s guarding. When you stand next to the Black Panther, you have to be pretty scary in your own right to draw attention. Letitia Wright as Shuri was also a lot of fun. She’s the energetic, scientific genius behind most of the Black Panther tech. I especially liked her mentality of ‘just because something works great doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.’ I loved the look of this movie; the incorporation of the different African clothing styles and traditions made the fictional nation of Wakanda seem very nearly real.

The negatives are pretty minimal, but still there. I suffered mental whiplash from this movie. It felt like a slow burn for the firsts half, working on world building and increasing tension as Klaue and Erik kept escaping T’Challa’s team. But then, after the casino scene things shifted into the fast lane. Erik’s arrival in Wakanda and usurping T’Challa’s throne, T’Challa’s family and friends traveling to the Jabari mountains and restoring him, and stopping Erik’s plan all took place over like a day and a half. There were also a few pointless moments. Like establishing Erik is diddling one of his teammates, just to have him kill her while fighting Klaue a few scenes later. Why even bring it up if you’re not going to do anything with it? Or, when M’Baku and his people are introduced, they say that he is kind of technophobic, but then never bring it up again. Again, why bring it up if you’re not going to do anything with it?

Overall, this was an A movie. While things went from… we’ll say… 10 to 60 in terms of pacing; the characters, visuals, and overall tone was good enough to make up for that. There is one aspect of the Black Panther mythos that I enjoy above all else, and that is the symbiosis of mysticism and science. It’s not like with Thor or Dr. Strange where they’ve tried to turn science and magic into two words that essentially mean the same thing. T’Challa, and his nation, exist in symbiosis. The hold tightly to their culture and ancient beliefs, but, at the same time, don’t let the old taboos, superstitions and the like hold them back from moving forward. There is a place for both aspects in this tiny African nation. In short, if Wakanda was a real nation, you bet I’d be doing my damnedest to be part of the first tour group there.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

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Villain Profile: Erik Killmonger

He's hunting Panther tonight.

Yeah, so this isn’t The Punisher or Black Panther. I haven’t had time to make it to the theater or sit down and watch more Punisher. So, I figured its high time for a Villain Profile. And, I also figured, why not talk about a villain that I had no idea about until the new movie came out. Those are the best kind of villains to talk about, especially when they turn out as interesting as Erik Killmonger. Wouldn’t have guessed he’d be fun to read about, with a name like that. I honestly expected him to be more or less a blank sleight that the studio was using because Black Panther doesn’t have all that many household name baddies. I was pleasantly surprised. Let’s get to it.

... Why is T'Challa using a sword? He has razor
sharp claws!

The man that became known as Erik Killmonger was born N’Jadaka in the African nation of Wakanda. His life was peaceful, for a time, but things took a hard-left turn into suck city with the arrival of one man, Klaue. Not to be confused with Dr. Claw, you know, from Inspector Gadget. Ulysses’ Klaue was in Wakanda to steal as much Vibranium from the nation’s Vibranium Mound as humanly possible. To do this, he forced a bunch of Wakandans (using his hired muscle and his scary weapons to do so) to help him transport the material. Thankfully, King T’Challa aka the Black Panther got wind of the scheme and fought his longtime foe. Klaue was defeated and fled the country, for like the 47^th time, but, N’Jadaka’s father was killed in the confrontation. And, to add insult to injury, the Black Panther elected to make an example of these traitors and banished N’Jadaka’s family and the other forced laborers from his nation. Kind of heavy handed leadership, there, T’Challa.

N’Jadaka, understandably, developed an intense hatred for both Klaue and T’Challa. He legally changed his name to Erik Killmonger to distance himself from his home country. Uhhhh… that’s about as on the nose a name as Kilgrave. Just saying. I’m going to refer to him as Erik, as I can’t take the name Killmonger seriously. I hope you understand. Erik dedicated his life to avenging his father’s death, on both Klaue and T’Challa. He worked to get a PhD Engineering and an MBA from M.I.T. He worked hard, and was actually able to convince T’Challa to repatriate him. Isn’t that nice of T’Challa? T’Challa even went so far as to rename Erik’s home village N’Jadaka Village in his honor.

Unfortunately, these apologizes kind of don’t make up for the whole dead parent and living for decades in exile. Erik dedicated himself to overthrowing Wakanda’s government, and defeat the Panther. He gathered an army of followers and razed several villages to attract the Panther’s attention. When the Panther arrived, he sicced his trained leopard Preyy on his ruler. T’Challa was able to snap the beast’s jaw, but was then thrown from atop a waterfall. The Panther survived the fall, though, but had to battle Erik and another of his rogue’s gallery, a snake charmer named Venomm. Not to be confused with the much more awesome Venom. Like, why even go with that name? A digression for another time. T’Challa was able to overcome the two of them, but Erik escaped.

The hell is going on with his hair right now?

He resurfaced several times, working as a high-ranking goon for several of Black Panther’s villains. He was ultimately killed while serving a man called Salamander K’Ruel. But, like sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many villains before him, this wasn’t the end for Erik Killmonger. He was revived by the Mandarin, using one of his Ten Rings, and almost immediately went back to harassing T’Challa. Working in tandem with the Mandarin, Erik and his men stole some Stark Industries tech, kidnapped Iron Man’s best friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes, and murdered T’Challa. At T’Challa’s funeral, Erik revealed himself and claimed the Black Panther mantel for himself… Somehow. So I guess T’Challa’s sister Shuri and other family don’t get a say in things this time. Thankfully, the thing that was killed was actually a Life Model Decoy, a highly advanced robotic body double. In actuality, Black Panther and Iron Man had teamed up to draw out their enemies. That task taken care of, they storm the Panther Palace. They’re able to get the upper hand on Erik and his ally Madame Slay, but Slay revealed that she had Rhodey captive. Iron Man used a life sensor to track down his buddy and flew to the rescue. Unfortunately, Rhodey was being held at the Vibranium Mound. Which is bad. The baddies had also set up a cyclotron on the Mound. Which is worse. Why? Using the cyclotron, they blast the Mound to alter the Wakandan Vibranium into Alaskan Vibranium. For those who don’t know, Wakandan Vibranium is a rare metal that is virtually indestructible. It’s Antarctic counterpart, confusingly also called Vibranium, is also called Anti-Metal. It liquifies all other types of metal. Which is horrible for a whole host of reasons. Chiefly, the Mound has soo much Vibranium, that it could wipe out all the metal in Europe, Asia and Africa. They’re able to disable the cyclotron, save Rhodey, and defeat Erik. The Mandarin recalled his ring, which caused Erik to revert to a fleshless skeleton. Graphic.

Erik was revived again, and actually able to steal the throne of Wakanda. He used a recent Coup D’état lead by Reverend Achebe, the King’s frequent absences, an unpopular Regent and some economic turmoil to force T’Challa into a corner. He then challenged T’Challa to ritual combat for the throne. And, to everyone’s surprise, he came out victorious. Erik was made the Black Panther, and T’Challa was exiled in disgrace. Erik kind of went off the deep end after this, attempting to not only rule Wakanda, but also claim T’Challa’s place on the Avengers. Can you imagine that visit to the Avenger’s Mansion? “Hi, I usurped your friend’s country and stole his title as Black Panther. I’m here to take his hero job too!” Tony gives him a flat look and slams the door in his face. His reign ended, though, as he attempted to consume the Heart-Shaped Herb. This quasi-mystical plant is what gives the kings and queens of Wakanda the powers of the Black Panther, but it is extremely poisonous to those outside the family. I assume he either didn’t realize this side effect, or was so diluted that he thought he could force the Heart-Shaped Herb potion to empower him. Erik ended up in a coma, and T’Challa resumed his post.

Erik later returned and menaced Officer Kasper Cole, whom was a new Black Panther in New York City. He tried to force Kasper into working with him by bribing him with a synthetic version of the Heart-Shaped Herb, all the powers without any of the side effects to non-Royals, and help him find his kidnapped son. Kasper took the bribe, but hunted down his son using the panther powers himself, to avoid having to owe this particular devil any more. Most recently, Erik Killmonger, using his Synthetic Herb, had taken control of Niganda, Wakanda’s neighboring nation and attempted to invade. But, he was killed when an escaped prisoner Monica Rambeau aka Spectrum blasted him through the chest. Probably not the last time we’ll see him. Especially given the movie’s success.

Erik Killmonger was initially just a physically gifted but otherwise human revolutionary. He has a genius level IQ, a PhD and MBA, a silver tongue, and is also multilingual. Since developing the Synthetic Herb, he’s given himself Black Panther like powers. These include, but not limited to, beyond peak human strength, speed, agility, reflexes, and senses. Or, in simpler terms, he can’t out lift the Hulk or out run Quicksilver, but he’s significantly better then your average person across the board. Captain America and the actual Black Panther have proven more than once that being a Jack-of-All-Trades can be better then being a master.

Not so much a Black Panther as a Gold Panther.

To date, Erik Killmonger has only appeared in Black Panther. His origins have been reworked so that he is an American Black Ops soldier named Erik Stevens, nicknamed Trying-Too-Hard… I mean Killmonger. He’s the son of N’Jobu, whom is the brother of T’Chaka, Wakanda’s former king. He’s T’Challa’s cousin, in case that was too weirdly stated. He’d lived in Oakland, California with his father, until a visit from Uncle Chaka. T’Chaka had confronted his brother about stealing Vibranium to sell on the black market. It ended with N’Jobu dying by T’Chaka. He plots to usurp his cousin’s throne, and provide Wakandan weaponry to people of African decent world wide as part of a cultural revolution. Props for giving him such a grand plot, for making him have a legit claim to the Wakandan throne, and for getting Michael B. Jordan to play him. What? He was single-handedly the best member of Fan4stic.

As an amateur writer, I can tell you that one of the hardest things to do is make a good villain. If you make them too sympathetic, they can overshadow your protagonist, but if you make them too monstrous, they come off as either a Saturday morning cartoon villain or an out and out sociopath. Neither is ideal. But, I think Erik Killmonger is a decent balance between the two. We, the audience, can sympathize with his background and hatred for T’Challa and the royal family, but at the same time realize that his goals are just way too extreme to be reasonable. His movie version in particular feels akin to Magneto, someone that suffered immeasurable pain and decided to take it out on others rather then move past it. He’s an interesting villain, and I hope to see more of him in the years to come.

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Twitter: @basicsSuperhero

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