Summary
In the present day, we see a fully grown T’Challa flying in a ship over Nigeria with his general and bodyguard Okoye. They are tracking a Wakandan War Dog, T’Challa’s ex-girlfriend Nakia, as she is spying on a human trafficking operation. T’Challa and Okoye discuss how he will attack the traffickers and Okoye implores him to be aggressive and decisive in his attack. She tells him, “Don’t freeze” to which he dismissively replies “I never freeze.” After putting on his helmet he drops from the ship, the camera following him to the ground in a CGI tracking shot. Part-way down, the camera breaks away from him to follow some spherical devices that have also dropped from the ship. They land on the militia’s trucks and shut down their engines. The militia men get out and try to figure out what has happened. T’Challa begins attacking them from the shadows, the action delivered in quick cuts and shaky camera.
T’Challa prepares to attack one remaining soldier who is cowering in fear, but he is stopped by Nakia. She tells T’Challa that the soldier is only a boy and had been kidnapped from his village just like the women. Before T’Challa and Nakia can converse further, they are interrupted by another soldier emerging with a woman held in front of him as a human shield. T’Challa hesitates, unsure what to do when Okoye appears and spears the soldier from behind. She admonishes T’Challa for his indecisiveness (“You froze.”). Nakia tells the captured women to return to their villages and Okoye encourages them to not tell anyone about the Black Panther. Then T’Challa continues his reunion with Nakia. She is initially angry that he disrupted her mission to infiltrate the trafficking operation but softens when she learns that his father T’Chaka has died (an event depicted in Captain America: Civil War) and that he has come to bring her to his coronation.
We see T’Challa, Okoye, and Nakia flying in their ship as the sun is rising. They pass over grassy hills and herds of animals, as the film cuts back and forth between the scenery and the characters gazing at it from their ship. One shot follows them flying low over a hill as a pair of Wakandan horsemen ride along and wave at them. The ship flies toward what appears to be a mountainside covered by a rainforest, and T’Challa comments that “this never gets old.” They fly into the rainforest, which reveals itself to be a hologram hiding a massive Wakandan city. The city is full of technological marvels and futuristic-looking skyscrapers, but is also apparently designed to exist in balance with nature. It is built on a huge lake and plant life can be seen at the city’s borders. After a few more CGI tracking shots of the ship flying over the cityscape, the ship sets down on a large landing pad in the center of the city, where T’Challa’s mother and little sister, Ramonda and Shuri, are waiting for them with a group of Dora Milaje.
T’Challa, Okoye, and Nakia disembark and are saluted by the attending Dora Milaje (both arms folded in an “X” shape over the chest). They approach Ramonda and Shuri and Nakia offers Ramonda and Shuri condolences over the death of T’Chaka. Ramonda thanks Nakia and says she is happy to see her again. Nakia then leaves to prepare herself for the coronation. At this point the conversation takes on a lighter tone, as Shuri asks Okoye if T’Challa ‘froze’ in battle to which Okoye smiles and says yes. T’Challa acts indignant as Okoye and the Dora Milaje leave, after which T’Challa and Shuri continue to tease each other. Shuri makes fun of his combat abilities and outdated equipment, and T’Challa makes fun of her for her childishness and vulgarity. Through their tone and facial expressions, however, we can see that this teasing is all in good fun and a normal part of their dynamic. Shuri leaves, promising to upgrade some of T’Challa’s combat equipment. T’Challa gets in one more joke about Shuri’s outfit for the coronation ceremony and she gives him the middle finger as she walks away. Ramonda lightly admonishes her and extracts a hasty apology. With only T’Challa and Ramonda remaining, the conversation becomes more tender and bittersweet. Ramonda tells T’Challa how proud she is of him and that his father is still with him in spirit. However, she stresses that it is T’Challa’s time to be king, implying that he must forge his own path.
In a London history museum, we see a man who will be later identified as Killmonger examining an exhibit of African antiques. A white curator comes over to him and asks if he has any questions about the exhibit. Killmonger asks her to identify the origin of several artifacts, which she does, including a hammer which she says was taken from the country of Benin. Killmonger tells her that she is wrong, and that while the hammer was found in Benin, it is originally from Wakanda and its head is made of vibranium. The curator is indignant but mostly confused. Killmonger announces that he will take the artifact, to which the curator replies that the items are not for sale. Killmonger becomes angry, reminding the curator that the artifacts had been stolen from Africa by British colonizers in the first place. The curator, clearly shaken, asks for security to escort Killmonger out of the building. Killmonger responds that the security can monitor what comes into the building but not what goes into a person’s body. The curator suddenly collapses in pain, the camera lingering briefly on a coffee cup she had been holding. The security guards ignore Killmonger, their attention occupied by the curator. Killmonger stands back and calls for help.
We cut to the building’s entrance, where two paramedics rush in with a stretcher. The camera pans over to a table where food and coffee is being handed out, and a young woman announces that she is going to take a break after seeing the paramedics. She leaves and we cut back to the African exhibit. We see a blurry point-of-view shot from the curator’s perspective as one of the paramedics approaches. The paramedic comes into focus, revealing him to be Ulysses Klaue, the arms dealer who had attacked Wakanda in the film’s prologue. Klaue and the other “paramedic” shoot two of the security guards. A third guard surrenders to them, and Klaue offers him the chance to escape before shooting him in the back. Killmonger asks him what the point of that was, to which Klaue responds that a more spread out crime scene will make the robbery look more like the work of amateurs. We cut to a shot of a security camera in the corner of the room, and then to a control room where we see that the security footage of the room has been hacked and is looping the same few seconds of footage from before the robbery. Outside the museum, the young woman from before is looking at this same loop of footage on her phone and smiles, having apparently hacked the camera herself.
Back inside the exhibit, Klaue uses a device within his mechanical prosthetic arm to detect the vibranium within the antique hammer. A coat of rust falls from the hammer to reveal a shiny silver metal. Klaue tells Killmonger that they are going to be very rich and breaks the head off of the handle. Killmonger grabs an antique mask from the display, not because it contains vibranium as Klaue asks, but just because Killmonger likes it. Outside, Klaue and his accomplice wheel Killmonger on the stretcher posing as injured patient. They all enter an ambulance where the young woman is waiting. She kisses Killmonger as Klaue shuts the ambulance doors and they drive away.
Analysis
This section introduces us to most of the film’s main cast in earnest. We learn from the fight with the militia that T’Challa is quick to resort to combat but indecisive in genuinely challenging moments. We learn that Nakia yearns for peaceful resolution to conflict but also that she has a fierce desire to help the world. It is also notable that this scene takes place in Nigeria and deals with a rogue militia kidnapping women. It is not explicitly stated but it can be inferred that this group is meant to represent the real-life Boko Haram terrorist group which gained infamy several years ago for kidnapping schoolgirls from a Nigerian village. This highlights that outside of Wakanda, all is not well in Africa, a source of tension for Wakanda’s isolationist policy.
Even in the more informal interactions among T’Challa’s family, we can see the tension between Wakanda’s traditionalist roots and the new forces which seek to change it. Shuri’s flippant approach to T’Challa and the upcoming coronation ceremony contrasts with Ramonda’s easily scandalized formality. However, it is clear in these scenes that a shared pride in national identity and familial affection for one another covers up these faults and allows Wakanda to live in harmony.
Coogler is also doing a lot of work visually to illustrate important themes. He uses long tracking shots to connect real photographed spaces to digitally created spaces, making both appear as one seamless space. In the fight against the militia, the first shot begins on the ship (a real set) then follows T’Challa as he falls through the sky (digital) and finally ends on the ground as the kimoyo beads attach to the trucks (real). Coogler frequently uses shot construction like this in the film’s fight scenes to maintain a continuous line of action, but he also uses it in the scene where the ship passes through the holographic barrier into Wakanda. Though the ship is digitally created, the images of mountains and forests seem real, yet ironically in the world of the film they are the illusion and the CGI city in Wakanda is real. This shot of passing through the hologram is meant to be a sort of passage for the audience from the grounded world of real life into the fantasy world of the film.
Meanwhile, our introduction to Killmonger shows a man who is utterly grounded in reality and highly skilled. His heist at the museum bears the hallmarks of careful planning and skillful execution. The methodical, almost rhythmic camera movements and edits highlight a robbery that goes like clockwork. We see that the curator’s coffee is poisoned and cut to the fake paramedics entering the museum, followed by a pan over to the woman who likely poisoned the coffee in the first place. We see a shot of the security camera, followed by a cut to the monitor room where the camera image has been hacked, then another cut to Killmonger’s girlfriend outside with the device she has apparently used to carry out the hacking. The point being, everyone involved is extremely skilled. Moreover, this scene also introduces us to the righteous anger of Killmonger with his impassioned speech on the theft of artifacts from Africa. It is not a coincidence that a white person was cast in the role of a curator and presented as an authority on African matters. Killmonger seems to be probing her expertise, quizzing her randomly on the origins of unrelated artifacts. Killmonger, despite being of African descent, is separated from this African history by the buffers of glass cases and the curator’s authority, highlighting once again the theme of diasporic alienation from the motherland. This is why he takes the mask in addition to the vibranium, since it helps him feel more connected to his ancestry. His righteousness notably contrasts with the flippant manner and mercenary motivations of Klaue, foreshadowing that their alliance is one of convenience only and is likely to break down when they no longer need each other.
