This article contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.Black Panther, meaning Wakanda had lost its champion and protector.
All Marvel movies are packed with Easter eggs and references, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is no exception. In this case, the film plays a crucial role in establishing a new power player in the MCU, Namor the Sub-Mariner, reinvented from the comics as ruler of the underwater kingdom of Talokan; given Namor is one of Marvel Comics' oldest characters, it's no surprise there are a lot of Easter eggs surrounding him. Here are all the major Marvel references in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Features A Beautiful Chadwick Boseman Intro
The Marvel Studios logo is being used in increasingly creative ways in Phase 4, helping set the tone and style of each different release. In the case of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, though, the Captain Marvel, and both approaches packed a similar punch.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Opens With A Prayer To Bast
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens with a distraught Shuri desperately praying to Bast. Wakanda's Panther God, Bast is the one who led T'Challa's ancestor Bashenga, the first Black Panther, to the Heart-Shaped Herb. Tied to the Egyptian pantheon seen in Thor: Love & Thunder. Akosia Sabet played the Panther God, who was seen among the divine beings hiding from Gorr the God-Butcher at Omnipotence City.
Trevor Noah Reprises The Role Of Griot
Trevor Noah returns in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, playing the voice of Shuri's artificial intelligence, Griot. The Avengers: Infinity War. Shuri is confident she won't repeat Tony Stark's Ultron mistake, although her mother Ramonda isn't quite so sure.
T'Challa's Funeral Includes His Challenge Weapons & The Helmet From Captain America: Civil War
T'Challa's funeral is an intensely emotional scene, and it's easy for viewers to miss some subtle Easter eggs in that particular moment. T'Challa's Challenge Weapons from the first film - his spear and shield - are next to the coffin, symbolically representing his victories over the years. Shuri carries a Black Panther helmet to the funeral; it's the one from Captain America: Civil War, which T'Challa designed himself.
Lake Bell Makes Her Live-Action MCU Debut
Lake Bell makes her live-action MCU debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, one of two specialists who are part of a CIA expedition looking for vibranium deposits in the ocean. This isn't Bell's first time with Marvel Studios, though, because she voiced Marvel's What If...? Her CIA agent meets an unfortunate fate, so she won't be returning to live-action - but hopefully will appear in What If...? season 2.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Reveals More Vibranium Meteorites Impacted Earth
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever reveals more than one Vibranium meteorite impacted the Earth. Another apparently landed offshore South America, and the Vibranium radiation mutated underwater vegetation in the same kind of way seen in Wakanda. The MCU's Talokanil are escapees from the Spanish Conquistadors who consumed their own equivalent of the Heart-Shaped Herb, and were transformed on a physiological level. They've kept themselves secret for centuries, but now are in danger of becoming exposed given surface dwellers have learned how to detect Vibranium.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever raises the possibility there's a lot more Vibranium in the MCU than had previously been believed; if there are two meteors, then there could have been an entire swarm. In the comics, there's another notable Vibranium deposit in Antarctica. It's possible the same will be true in the MCU as well.
News Broadcasts In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Reference Scott Lang, New Asgard, & US Politics
There are several news broadcasts in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and attentive viewers will notice Marvel Easter eggs in the tickertapes. One reveals Scott Lang has published his autobiography (called Look Out For The Little Guy). This fits in with Captain America: New World Order, now played by Harrison Ford after the sad death of William Hurt.
M'Baku Proves His People Are Still Vegetarians In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
M'Baku has a major role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, but his opening scene is actually an amusing Easter egg calling out a key moment in the first film. There, he claimed his people were vegetarians; it's appropriate, then, that he s a Wakandan Council meeting while munching on a carrot. It seems he wasn't kidding when he told Ross he was a vegetarian.
Wakanda Is Now Protected By Force Fields, Not Holograms
One subtle detail in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever shows how vulnerable and isolated the fictional African kingdom feels after King T'Challa's death. In the first film, the Royal Talon Fighter flies through holographic images concealing Wakanda's advanced cities. In the sequel, the holograms have been replaced by force-fields, literally keeping the rest of the world out. "We're home," Okoye declares as she steps out of the Royal Talon Fighter - the exact same thing she said in a similar scene in Black Panther.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever's K'uk'ulkan Reference Explained
The Talokanil consider Namor to be K'uk'ulkan, their feathered serpent god. A classic Mesoamerican deity, K'uk'ulkan has in fact made several appearances in Marvel Comics in the past. It's interesting to note that Namor's cousin Namora, a secondary villain in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, actually has ties to K'uk'ulkan in the comics; she was introduced in 1948's Namora #1, in an issue where she stumbled upon a temple dedicated to K'uk'ulkan that was being ransacked.
