Summary
In the palace, Nakia meets Okoye and informs her that Nakia has moved Ramonda and Shuri to a safe location. Okoye thanks her, but refuses to join her since her duty as one of the Dora Milaje is to serve the king of Wakanda no matter who that is. Nakia is incredulous at Okoye’s adherence to tradition, telling her that she intends to save Wakanda from Killmonger regardless of what the country’s laws and traditions dictate.
Nakia then goes to a different palace room where Ross has been waiting, unaware of all that has transpired. She tells him that T’Challa is dead and takes him away before elaborating. Ramonda and Shuri are waiting in the jungle outside the city, crying over the deaths of T’Chaka and T’Challa and lamenting that they cannot even give T’Challa a proper burial. Nakia arrives with Ross, briefly introducing him to Ramonda and telling her that Okoye will serve Killmonger.
In the heart-shaped herb cave, a shaman feeds Killmonger the potion which will give him the Black Panther’s power as attendants bury him in sand. He wakes up in the Ancestral Plane, which for him takes the form of N’Jobu’s apartment in Oakland (though the same purple sky from before can be seen through the windows). Killmonger looks around, morphing into his form as a child. He finds what appears to be N’Jobu’s diary and flips through it. N’Jobu’s spirit appears and asks him if he was able to return to Wakanda. Killmonger says he did, N’Jobu replying that the country has the most beautiful sunsets in the world but lamenting that the Wakandans are unlikely to welcome Killmonger back with open arms. N’Jobu asks why Killmonger does not cry for him, to which Killmonger says that “Everybody dies. It’s just life around here.” N’Jobu looks sad, saying he should have brought Killmonger back to Wakanda sooner since he is clearly “lost.” Killmonger morphs back to his adult form and retorts that it is the Wakandans who are truly “lost” and wakes up. Flustered, he demands that that the attendants burn all of the remaining heart-shaped herbs so there can never be a new king. They comply, but Nakia is able to steal one herb without them noticing.
We cut to the throne room with a shot of Killmonger approaching the throne upside down and behind his back. The camera slowly rotates back to a normal view as Killmonger takes the throne. He then outlines his plan to send vibranium weapons around the world to foment rebellion by oppressed black people. He says his experience in the American military gives him insight that will help defeat them and other similar nations. He goes on to propose that the newly liberated countries will unite under Wakandan rule and that “the sun will never set on the Wakandan empire.” Okoye advises that Killmonger continue to uphold Wakanda’s isolationist policy instead of embarking on this plan, but W’Kabi speaks up in favor of Killmonger’s plan.
Nakia, Ramonda, Shuri, and Ross hike up a mountain in the snow. Nakia explains to Ross that they are taking the heart-shaped herb into Jabariland so that M’Baku can gain the power of the Black Panther and overthrow Killmonger. Ramonda is skeptical of M’Baku, speculating that he could be just as dangerous and disruptive a force as Killmonger with that kind of power. She suggests that Nakia eat the herb instead, but Nakia points out that they will also need the Jabari’s army to successfully confront the Wakandan military.
The group reaches Jabariland and are escorted to M’Baku’s throne room, where they explain to him what has happened in Wakanda. M’Baku brushes off this news, saying that since T’Challa died in ritual combat his death was fair and Killmonger is the rightful king of Wakanda. Ross steps in, trying to explain Killmonger’s American background to win over M’Baku, but is cut off by several Jabari chanting aggressively at him. M’Baku tells Ross to stay silent or be eaten by the Jabari. After a pause, M’Baku laughs, saying the Jabari are in fact vegetarians. The mood relaxes a little at this joke, and Nakia offers M’Baku the heart-shaped herb. M’Baku declines, taking the group instead to another room. Much to their surprise, T’Challa is lying in a bed of snow, unconscious, but alive. M’Baku explains that Jabari fishermen found T’Challa floating down the river and that while he is still alive he is badly injured and comatose. The group feed T’Challa the heart-shaped herb and bury him in the snow, hoping that the power of the Black Panther will also save his life.
T’Challa awakens in the Ancestral Plane. The sky has turned golden instead of purple, and all of T’Challa’s ancestors already stand before him in human form. T’Chaka tells T’Challa that it is time for him to “come home” meaning to die and join his ancestors. T’Challa instead asks T’Chaka why he left Killmonger in Oakland as a boy. T’Chaka responds that leaving the boy was necessary to cover up N’Jobu’s crimes, which in turn was necessary for preserving Wakanda’s stability. T’Challa snaps, castigating his father and all the ancestors for adhering to the isolationist policies that allowed the world to suffer needlessly. T’Challa declares that he must go back to defeat Killmonger and right the wrongs of the past. At this point, he wakes up in the real world.
Nakia explains to T’Challa what has happened since his defeat and Ross details Killmonger’s likely plan of attack on the world. T’Challa and the group resolve to return and defeat Killmonger before he can start a global war with Wakandan technology. T’Challa then meets with M’Baku privately. He asks M’Baku to protect Ramonda in his territory, to which M’Baku agrees. However, M’Baku refuses to give T’Challa his army, reasoning that a simple olive branch in the present does not make up for centuries of distrust and neglect. T’Challa argues that Killmonger will eventually try to subjugate or destroy the Jabari, but M’Baku remains unconvinced.
Analysis
Killmonger finally gets what he has secretly yearned for his entire life: a genuine connection with his ancestry via the Ancestral Plane. However, it doesn’t go exactly the way he wanted. Unlike the other ancestors, N’Jobu is confined to his apartment in Oakland, seemingly exiled from Wakanda proper even in the afterlife. Killmonger also manifests in the Ancestral Plane as a child, unlike T’Challa. This is meant to demonstrate that for all his confidence and righteousness, his beliefs and attitudes are still very much rooted in the traumas he suffered as a child. He lost his father when he was young, and no doubt suffered other indignities growing up as a poor black boy in America. He will never be able to fully move on from his childhood. N’Jobu’s spirit senses this fact. Though his fundamental convictions have not changed, his manner has softened since we last saw him. He pities Killmonger, seeing that his alienation from Wakanda has damaged him permanently. This moment of vulnerability is short-lived; Killmonger’s seems compelled to project strength when he returns to the world of the living. He immediately orders the heart-shaped herbs to be burned and then gives a rousing, confident speech outlining his plan to the court.
Meanwhile, we see the fault lines which have divided the Wakandan characters become more pronounced. For the first time, Okoye and Nakia come into conflict. Nakia has mostly kept up an outwardly disagreeable but respectful stance on Wakanda’s traditionalism during the film, but when faced with Okoye’s stubborn insistence on serving the villainous Killmonger she loses her cool, castigating Okoye. Okoye attempts to rationalize her decision with technical justifications while Nakia keeps interrupting her with pointed and emotionally blunt statements (“He killed T’Challa!”). Privately, we get the sense that Nakia has always bristled at the ways Wakanda’s policies limited her ability to do good in the world and now we see her horror at the possibility that Wakanda will be destroyed by its own fanatical traditionalism.
Nakia’s initial plan to give the heart-shaped herb to M’Baku is somewhat desperate, but also further indicative of her willingness to go outside Wakanda’s traditional structures. Ramonda, who is fairly traditionalist, is very skeptical of the idea. At first, M’Baku does little to assuage their fears, mocking them for T’Challa’s loss and acting vaguely threatening. However, in spite of this, he seems more sober and thoughtful than at the combat challenge. Perhaps he was simply performing for the occasion of the challenge (his “vegetarians” joke suggests he projects a more aggressive demeanor to maintain a frightening image) or perhaps T’Challa’s decision to spare his life has affected him profoundly. Indeed, when he speaks to T’Challa in private M’Baku seems even more serious and courteous, even if he decides not to join the effort to fight Killmonger. M’Baku’s decisions are rooted in the long-term preservation of his people, as opposed to his own ambition. Though this leads him to stay behind for now, we get the sense that T’Challa’s argument for deposing Killmonger to preserve the Jabari’s independence and safety might ultimately sway M’Baku.
T’Challa’s second trip to the Ancestral Plane goes very differently from his first. All of T’Challa’s ancestors are now there to welcome him to the afterlife, but he rebukes them, both by refusing to die and rejecting their wisdom and traditions. This is the point in the film when T’Challa finally realizes that he does not have to follow the ways of his ancestors and that to go down his own path is actually preferable. It is a startling turnaround for someone who has until this point been consistently deferential to tradition. He makes it clear that Killmonger is the direct result of T’Chaka’s poor decisions and that it is T’Challa’s duty to make up for these mistakes by defeating T’Challa. Various characters and events have suggested to T’Challa he ought to lead Wakanda in a new direction and in this scene he makes it clear that the coming of Killmonger was the final straw in this line of thinking. For T’Challa, Killmonger is not only an adversary but also a representation of Wakanda’s failures. In this scene, the film actually rejects much of its own mythologizing of ancient Wakanda and the ancestors. What T’Challa needed to learn and grow was not to travel to a mystical realm of dead people, but to go on his own journey, fail, and learn from that failure.
