With Avengers: Endgame less than a month away, I decided to continue the rewatch of the MCU. You can find my other articles on this site as well as reviews by A Winged Potato. Black Panther Review

Title: Black Panther

Director: Ryan Coogler

Writer(s): Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole

Characters created by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. As well as characters and concepts by Christopher Priest, Jonathan Hickman, and Reginald Hudlin

US Release Date: February 16, 2018

Budget: $200–210 million

Worldwide Box-office: $1.347 billion

Returning characters: T’Challa, T’Chaka, Ulysses Klaue, Everett Ross, Bucky Barnes, and Ayo

Summary: Thousands of years ago, Wakanda is founded by five tribes after a meteorite containing vibranium lands in Africa.

In 1992, Wakanda’s King T’Chaka visits his brother N’Jobu, who is working undercover in Oakland. T’Chaka accuses N’Jobu of assisting Ulysses Klaue with stealing vibranium from Wakanda. N’Jobu’s partner reveals he is Zuri, another undercover Wakandan, and confirms T’Chaka’s suspicions.

In the present day, following T’Chaka’s death, his son T’Challa returns to Wakanda to assume the throne. He and Okoye extract T’Challa’s ex-lover Nakia from an undercover assignment so she can attend his coronation ceremony. At the ceremony, the Jabari Tribe’s leader M’Baku challenges T’Challa for the crown in ritual combat. T’Challa defeats M’Baku and persuades him to yield rather than die. When Klaue and his accomplice Erik Stevens steal a Wakandan artifact from a London museum, W’Kabi urges him to bring Klaue back alive.

T’Challa, Okoye, and Nakia travel to Busan, South Korea, where Klaue plans to sell the artifact to CIA agent Everett K. Ross. A firefight erupts and Klaue attempts to flee but is caught by T’Challa, who reluctantly releases him to Ross’ custody. Klaue tells Ross that Wakanda’s international image is a front for a technologically advanced civilization. Erik attacks and extracts Klaue as Ross is gravely injured protecting Nakia. Rather than pursue Klaue, T’Challa takes Ross to Wakanda, where their technology can save him.

While Shuri heals Ross, T’Challa confronts Zuri about N’Jobu. Zuri explains that N’Jobu planned to share Wakanda’s technology with people of African descent around the world. N’Jobu attacked Zuri and forced T’Chaka to kill him. T’Chaka ordered Zuri to lie and left behind N’Jobu’s American son in order to maintain the lie. This boy grew up to be Stevens, a U.S. black ops soldier who adopted the name “Killmonger”. Meanwhile, Killmonger kills Klaue and takes his body to Wakanda.

Killmonger is brought before the tribal elders, revealing his identity to be N’Jadaka and challenges T’Challa to ritual combat, where he kills Zuri, defeats T’Challa, and hurls him over a waterfall to his presumed death. Killmonger ingests the heart-shaped herb and orders the rest incinerated, but Nakia extracts one first. Killmonger, supported by W’Kabi and his army, prepares to distribute shipments of Wakandan weapons to operatives around the world. Nakia, Shuri, Ramonda, and Ross flee to the Jabari for aid. They find a comatose T’Challa.

Healed by Nakia’s herb, T’Challa returns to fight Killmonger, who dons his own Black Panther suit. W’Kabi and his army fight Shuri, Nakia, and the Dora Milaje, while Ross remotely pilots a jet and shoots down planes carrying the vibranium weapons.

M’Baku and the Jabari arrive to reinforce T’Challa. Confronted by Okoye, W’Kabi and his army stand down. Fighting in Wakanda’s vibranium mine, T’Challa disrupts Killmonger’s suit and stabs him. Killmonger refuses to be healed, choosing to die a free man rather than be incarcerated.

T’Challa establishes an outreach center at the building where N’Jobu died, to be run by Nakia and Shuri.

MCU Continuity Nods: The events of Captain America: Civil War are recapped by a news report. Everett mentions his actions to cover up T’Challa’s involvement in Germany. Klaw’s theft of the Vibranium and its use to make Ultron. Shuri’s mention of “another white boy”

Easter Eggs: Klaue’s sonic hand is a nod to his weapon in the comics. M’Baku is not referred to in the film by his comics alter ego “Man-Ape”.

Stan Lee Cameo: A gambler in the casino who is more than happy to look after T’Challa’s winnings

Infinity Stone: None

Post/mid Credits Scenes: T’Challa announces his plans to the United Nations. Shuri looks in on a recovering Bucky

My Take: The thing I like about this film is that it is so different from the rest of the Marvel films, but at the same time it seems to fit right in with the rest. The whole look of the film is incredible, and of course M’Baku, Shuri and Okoye are the breakout characters from the film. Andy Serkis looks like he’s having a blast. It’s also great that we have an antagonist who actually has a point, so much so that it affects T’Challa’s world view.

Next: Avengers: Infinity War