Tag: black panther spoilers

jinlinli:

y’know i lowkey headcanon that killmonger didnt really believe wakanda existed until the night his dad was killed. just hear me out.

erik’s a smart kid, and he’s around the age when kids start doubting the stories their parents tell them. things like santa claus and the easter bunny, they start realizing that’s stuff their parents say to make the world feel more wonderful and magical. 

so imagine little erik listening to his dad telling him about a secret african nation where eating a glowing flower gives you superpowers, people can fly around in invisible planes, and the king dresses up like a cat to fight bad guys. it’s a country where erik’s a prince and his uncle is a king. a country that every encyclopedia says is third world, pretty much only exports sheep, and has problems with poachers sneaking in to hunt rhino. so a kid like erik might start thinking, okay so this is probably another story my dad made up.

and then one day he looks up from a pick up game of basketball and sees a plane turn invisible and fly away. little erik just beginning to believe that maybe his dad had been telling the truth the whole time. maybe this fairytale country really does exist. so he runs up the stairs to ask his dad about it, maybe hoping to see someone wearing clothes made out of magical meteorite metal. 

but instead, he finds his dad alone and dying in the middle of their living room. and he’s got claw marks in his stomach like an animal had attacked him. or someone with claws like one. and that’s the moment he believed without a doubt that wakanda was real.

andfollowthesun:

reasons why Shuri was the best character in black panther

  • sees her brother after a v dangerous mission and immediately roasts him
    • continues to roast him throughout the movie despite a) him being king and b) them being in a political crisis
      • a small selection of things she roasts him on
        • his ex
        • his shoes
        • his old outdated technology
        • his ass getting kicked by her inventions
  • “WHAT ARE THOOOOOOSSEEEE?” a true memelord
  • “don’t frighten me like that coloniser!”
  • pretends to challenge t’challa for the throne for the drama of it all 
  • somehow finds the time to completely redo her hair and outfit in a political crisis? iconic
  • sees things in science fiction and invents them
    • names said inventions after bad puns
  • always striving for improvement & understands that just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be improved
  • “great, another broken white boy for us to fix” she Knows
  • wants to go to california for disneyland and coachella
  • checks which side of the road to drive on in the middle of a car chase bc she’s responsible
  • she’s literally the smartest person on earth??? at 16?? in a world where tony stark and bruce banner exist?????? how can you not love her

earthshaker1217:

lj-writes:

polytropic-liar:

okay, so everyone has set up the main rivalry in Black Panther as Killmonger vs T’Challa. And obviously that’s the main narrative structure of the story, not arguing with that. But I feel like from a purely character arc standpoint, the actual battle is Killmonger vs Nakia, and she obliterates him.

Erik Stevens is a CIA covert operative; basically, he’s a spy. So is Nakia. And when you look at their various actions through the lens of “who accomplished their mission better?”, it becomes pretty clear that Erik spent 20-some years preparing to destabilize T’Challa’s reign, including having inside knowledge and a birthright on his side…and Nakia spent roughly 36 hours successfully destabilizing his reign, in turn, with nothing but her incredible ability to network disparate resources.

Let’s just review her actions over those 36 hours okay:

– Gets the surviving members of the royal family successfully out of danger within seconds of the coup (aka the only living people with a competing blood claim to the throne aka the greatest threat to his regime)

– Sows enough doubt in the “greatest warrior in the country” about Killmonger’s ability to lead that when the time comes, Okoye and the entire Dora Milaje all defect (eventually saving hundreds of lives)

– Steals a heart-shaped herb from under his nose as he’s identifying it as the most important power resource in the country and trying to prevent it falling into anyone else’s hands, lol too late buddy

– Immediately identifies the person in the country with the best platform to mount a counter-insurgency (M’Baku), identifies what it will take to get him on their side, and casually resolves a centuries-long division in their country while she’s at it

– Correctly predicts Killmonger’s opening move of distributing vibranium to the war dogs, and assists in a comprehensive strategy that shuts it down cold–a strategy they wouldn’t have been able to use if she hadn’t gotten Shuri, Ross, and T’Challa all in one place with the right information at the right time

As soon as T’Challa is back she takes an immediate backseat again (she said it herself, she’s a spy, not the leader of an army), but, seriously, if you have to pinpoint the one person who took down Killmonger, it’s undeniably her. And she did it by clearly demonstrating that her skills as a war dog are miles ahead of his as a CIA agent (due in part, I’m sure, to being trained in a superior country, but also she’s Just That Good).

Yes! Erik’s real misfortune was coming up against a much better and smarter intelligence operative. She also gives the lie to the stereotypical spy narrative (embodied by Erik) that you have to be heartless and violent to achieve your ends. She is the moral center and touchstone of film, so filled with goodness it comes off her like a glow, but she kicks the ruthless Erik’s ass from Wakanda to Kinshasa.

Another thing Nakia was good at was identifying where the necessary resources weren’t, namely in herself. That was why she argued Ramonda out of the idea of taking it herself. It wasn’t self-effacement or modesty, it was a clear-eyed calculation of what it would take to win and the best chance was with M’Baku, not her.

And she did much of this while she thought the man she still loved was dead. She admits as much to Okoye, too. Think of how much sheer fortitude that took, to work through a grief like that to save your country. She is a hero and her heroism is no less amazing for not being flashy or center stage.

Everybody was a star in this movie. I swear.

perfumeofsighs:

mcu m’baku is honestly one of the greatest aspects of black panther. he respects and honors the customs of his people and of the crown. he was defeated and accepted the outcome, and even when he was offered the throne, he honorably declined because t’challa is still alive. When ramonda, shuri and nakia give t’challa the heart shaped herb, he turned around…. this has to do with the crown of wakanda, and it’s not something he should be privy too, and he respectfully turns away (unlike ross who was wide mouth gaping at the ritual of it all).  

ALSO t’challa asks him to look after his mother, and he promises that no harm will come to her, and YOU BELIEVE HIM BECAUSE HE’S ALL ABOUT HONOR…. BUT he makes it clear that he’s doing this out of respect for Wakanda and the crown, not really out of respect to t’challa himself. He also doesn’t waste an opportunity to remind t’challa that this is the first time the king has come to the Jabaris in years, that his tribe is often dismissed and overlooked by the rest of the nation. 

To find M’Baku’s voice, he researched and imitated Nigerian accents, further separating the character from the South African-inspired T’Challa. It’s just one of many ways the Jabari differ from the city-based Wakandans, who largely worship the panther god Bast. “The panther is sleek, the panther is sneaky, the panther is covert—meanwhile, the gorilla will show up and bang on his chest and make noises to warn you about what is about to happen if you continue to cross the line,” Duke says. “We don’t hide, we don’t sneak. We come through the front door.” (x)

I love this detail! You can all be considered Wakandan, but there is clearly a perceived hierarchy and a tier of importance here, an “othering” of people despite the same allegiance to your country, and I love that M’Baku sticks it to T’Challa this way. And also to to Everett Ross. No fucks given there- About the Jabaris, Winston Duke says… 

“They haven’t been affected by colonialism and all the narratives that are associated with developing a sense of inferiority and people comparing them to animals”[…] “To them, this is just who they pray to, and they find their strength and agency in this religion. So being a bit gorilla-influenced was a sense of pride for them.”

He grunts at Ross to silence him. Ross is kind of an interloper. He has no say in Wakandan traditions, and has no place in his court. Even if Ross thinks of M’Baku as an animal, it literally means nothing because his opinion does not matter. 

Later when M’Baku and the Jabari show up, it was in the nick of time but also  it’s him announcing that they will want a greater say in the future of their country. And you’re hinted that this might be the case because M’baku is in the last council scene next to T’Challa. 

This is not to say that M’Baku is without fault. He scoffs at Shuri and is dismissive of her ability and ridicules T’Challa for putting a 16 year old girl in charge of the technological future of the country. It will be very interesting to see how he and Shuri interact in future installments. I WOULD REALLY REALLY LIKE TO SEE THIS, especially since they both got jokes, generally at the expense of the colonizer. It is not like tradition and technology cannot co-exist, although finding that balance can be extremely difficult. I think this is a really interesting sub-theme that runs through the movie. 

M’baku is 100% in it for the drama. Examples:

andhumanslovedstories:

sirgnomethegiant:

  • Makes grandiose speeches and is willing to die trying to get the throne
  • Let’s Nakia, Shuri, Ramonda, and Everett kneel before him – proclaiming him the person they’re willing to follow and stand behind, knowing full well T’challa is alive
  • Saves that info until he’s convinced they mean it (bc he feels his people have been slighted and deserves the respect – true)
  • Threatens to feed Everett to his children
  • Constantly interrupts heartfelt family moments
  • Refuses to give aid to T’challa when he asks
  • Shows up when and/or waits until T’challa is losing and helps turn the tide of battle

laughs at his own joke for like a minute while everyone else is like “this is a very serious situation, you have to know that” and he’s still just like “feed him to my children! fuck I’m so fucking funny”