I NEVER FREEZE….ooooooohhhh
We’ve finally arrived at Black Panther in my MCU binge-watch, so this post will be breaking down the easter eggs and hidden details you might have missed the first time around.
These Easter Eggs show just how much effort Marvel puts into their movies and hopefully this video helps you to love the film even more.
Obviously, there will be heavy spoilers here so if you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet then I hope you get dusted in the snap because it’s definitely worth watching.
History of Wakanda
Black Panther opens with a narration that tells of the meteorite that hit Wakanda many millennia ago. It enrichened the earth and five tribes settled in the area, building advanced technological weapons and they pretty much put the precious metal in everything that they owned. Vibranium is of course a material that is laced throughout the MCU and it was famously used to create Captain America’s shield. This was thought to be indestructible, however, Black Panther actually managed to cut it because his claws are made out of the metal too.
The indentation in the Earth the meteorite left can also be seen in the film, namely as the location where the final battle takes place and it’s clear that the natives built themselves up around it. There’s also mention of the Panther God Bast. Bast is a true deity and it features in the MCU as God that granted the Black Panther with their abilities.
T’Challa himself likely follows the religion of it too as in the film before the car scene the character says “For Bast Sake” instead of “For God’s Sake”.
All the tribes likely worship their own gods as when M’Baku first shows up he says “Glory To Hanuman.” Hanuman is a Monkey God, he refers to himself as the great Gorilla and also dons a mask of the animal, cementing this notion.
Introducing Killmonger
We learn that this story is actually being told to a young Erik Kilmonger and that he and his father left the kingdom and they have been hiding which we see in the opening scene. This is where we cut to Oakland in 1992 and see a young Erik playing basketball with a DIY basket.
At the end of the film, after T’Challa has bought this property, the basketball hoop is a real one showing the redevelopment that has gone on in the area since he acquired it.
Now, this opening is laced with a lot of subtle details but it basically sets up the rivalry between T’Challa and Kilmonger due to the choices of both their fathers.
T’Challa and Killmonger’s Differences
To me the bloodlines sort of represent Martin Luther King and Malcolm X as they both have opposing ideologies on how to get things done. T’Challa is more of a peaceful man that is trying to unite with the people whereas Kilmonger wishes to take things by force and any means necessary.
The way they operate is also shown in their choice of suits. T’Challa has the option to pick either the understated Black Panther costume or the golden one and he goes with the former. Kilmonger goes with the latter, the more ostentatious one because he is coming out and wants to be seen whereas T’Challa is happy to remain in the shadows and move covertly.
In the first fight that the two have, T’Challa fights with a spear and a shield whereas Kilmonger chooses a spear and a sword showing their differences in mindsets.
Upon drinking the heart-shaped herb, both characters visit their father’s in the afterlife. Their father’s legacy massively weighs on them and is very much the mould for their choices.
The two are pretty much opposite sides of the same coin and the movie subtly hints at the similarities between the two by reusing the iconography of Kilmonger holding his father as he dies which mirrors the way that T’Challa held his during Civil War.
Both parents clearly loved their sons and no more is this exemplified than when the Prince hears noises. They initially panic and cover everything up and he looks out the window. Now it may seem like he is looking for the police but they would be coming through the door and instead he is checking on his son to make sure that he’s ok.
Improving and Growing
We learn that N’Jobu had been leaking information on Wakanda to people and in Civil War we discover that this led to Klaue storming the country.
Now Marvel tends to do brilliant things with timelines and throughout the movies, we watch as technology improves.
Black Panther is no different and we can see how the hologram technology improves over time going from a blue image to a fully realised one.
Another notable elements to take from this scene are that N’Jobu kneels before the king upon his entrance. In Infinity War, this kneeling is played for as a joke but to me, it actually shows that T’Challa has become his own man and won’t have the same kind of leadership that his father did which eventually led to his own brother betraying him.
Costuming
Now Black Panther has one of the coolest costumes in the entire MCU and when it first made its debut in Civil War many eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the suit never made a sound.
We learn in this film that this is due to the sneaking technology in it and Shuri even shows off some Sneakers for the character. These have a cool little easter egg on them that Redditors spotted and if you check out the letters on the pair of sneakers they actually say Heir T’Chaka as in he is the heir to the throne. This is a play on the words Air and Heir T’Chaka is a play on the infamous sneakers Air Jordan. She says they are fully automated and which is also a nod to Back To The Future Part 2.
Black Panther’s costume stores energy and this is shown by its lighting up with purple colouring. In Infinity War, Thanos slams Black Panther so hard that it actually breaks apart all the energy stored up and completely releases it.
We can see a test in which they store up some kinetic energy and Wakandan text appears on the torso which says “I love you, Mom.”
Now superheroes love branding and we actually see the masks that the characters use reappear throughout the film.
The Black Panther’s face plate is what the attack ships actually look like from the bottom and this is a really cool detail that shows how much the creative team were really looking into the overall world-building.
Killmongers mask also appears similar to the drop ships and a lot more.
We also see scales being worked on and these later appear under Captain America’s uniform showing that he may have had a little help from the Wakandans after dropping off Bucky.
Key Locations
Cap visits Wakanda throughout the MCU twice and the two scenes mirror one another. Bucky is teased at the end of the movie which sort of brings all these moments together.
Speaking of locations in the film, we learn that Kilmonger is launching spies in locations such as London, Hong Kong and New York. We learn in Doctor Strange that these are the locations of the Sanctum Sanctorums and can gather from these that these are key locations on the planet that, if taken, can likely overthrow the world on both the physical and spiritual planes.
Who is Ulyssses Klaue?
Now one of the best characters in Black Panther is Ulysses Klaue. After making his debut in Age Of Ultron he makes a much bigger impression here and pretty much chews up the scenery every time he’s on screen.
In the aforementioned movie, when talking about how he obtained the Vibranium he says it came at great personal cost and rubs his neck showing a brand given to him by the people of Wakanda.
A dossier in that movie shows that Klaue’s great grandfather was actually killed by a previous version of the Black Panther so I love how this rivalry has existed throughout the ages.
When Klaue and Killmonger have a shootout, Klaue actually wins and he hits Kilmonger first, however, he was wearing armour and thus Erik was able to gain the upper hand on him.
I tried to do a hand joke there but couldn’t think of a good one. I guess when it comes to rubbish jokes I need a HAND.
Casino Scene and Car Chase
Klaue in the comics is actually made of living sound and this is referenced in the film when he offers to give Agent Ross a mixtape.
This happens at the casino and upon entering it the group say that there are 7 Americans. They manage to locate six when walking around and the seventh that they couldn’t is actually Stan Lee.
Love you 3000, Stan.
Another cool moment in this scene is that the costume design department deliberately dressed the characters in colours that resemble a Pan African flag.
They chase after Klaue and the car is actually blown up, this isn’t really an Easter egg I just love the way the wheel continues to roll in the next shot, that’s attention to detail for you.
Killmonger goes to rescue him and T’Challa dives on a grenade to show how much of a hero he is. Steve Rogers of course did this in the First Avenger to prove he was willing to sacrifice himself.
Fighting Killmonger
Now it leads to Killmonger taking the throne after beating T’Challa.
During the fight, Killmonger breaks his spear which makes it short. The Shaka Zulu of South Africa used to use this fighting style quite often as it improved their chances of killing more people due to the speed at which they could wield it.
Kilmonger’s face is cut during the fight but the next time we see him this is healed. This is because of the science department at the kingdom which is also able to heal the bullet wound in Agent Ross very quickly, like Wolverine speed almost.
He throws T’Challa over the waterfall to his apparent death.
What I love about T’Challa is that he often says things that ironically backfire on him.
This is of course shown in the I never freeze thing that we did at the start but there are other examples too. In Infinity War Black Panther tells the Black Order that Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood. This happens literally as Tony manages to get a drop of blood from the character and after Thanos carries out the snap, everyone turns to dust.
He also says that this is no place to die before dying himself and yeah…be careful what you say, mate.
Killmonger Takes the Throne
Killmonger ends up taking the throne and he wears his father’s ring on his hand rather than around his next showing that he has finally completed his mission.
Throughout the throne room scenes, we can actually see that there is an empty chair and this is because M’Baku refuses to join the council and prefers to live in the mountains.
He does end up helping T’Challa and Co fight back and this leads to a big battle at the Vibranium mining facility.
We can actually see that the Jabari tribe don’t use any Vibranium weaponry and this is because the group actually reject the metal due to their beliefs. They actually wish to take Wakanda back to its roots and thus they make things simple for themselves.
Battle for Wakanda
It’s a big battle that sees Everett Ross piloting one of the ships. He used to be a pilot and thus Shuri sets up the control panel to be similar to an F-16 which uses a hands-on throttle-and-stick set-up to guide it.
T’Challa manages to beat Killmonger and he takes him out to see the sunset.
After becoming King, Kilmonger actually says “The sun will never set on the Wakandan Empire” but he must’ve been learning lessons from T’Challa because as the sunsets, the character dies along with his empire.
After returning to Oakland we get the credits scene in which the colours actually represent all of the Infinity Stones. This was of course put in place to tease the next film in the release schedule which was infinity war and I appreciate the use here.
Anyway, that’s the entire list of things we spotted.
I know this didn’t contain absolutely anything but there have been so many breakdowns I just wanted to talk about things that I hadn’t really seen people mentioning before.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.