This. This. This. This. And this

And that. And that over there, too. 

Yes, honey, yes!!! Preach to the choir!!! 

I especially love how you compared Black Panther to the Avengers movies, like…yeah. And another problem with the Avengers’ treatment of characters is how they centralize Tonka over and above everyone else…even to the detriment of other characters that can and do have the potential to be interesting (i.e, Thor). 

It…kinda worked and kinda chugged thru with the first Avengers movie, if you liked it (which I admit that I do). But it all just fell to hell and back with AOU. When you keep centralizing a character above and beyond the other ones with no clear reason other than the dollar signs, then your story is just gonna suffer and suffer terribly. 

Versus with Black Panther, there’s been a lot of good words written about how T’Challa, the main hero, is actually a bit sidelined to make ample narrative and emotional space for the other characters! For example, we were all Sad And Shooketh after Killmonger threw him off the waterfall and supposedly killed him…

…But T’Challa’s temporary absence allowed us to focus for a little more on the other characters-the other characters who are black women, by the way. 

We go to see Okoye & Nakia’s bond (that hug…it was short, but it done killed me). And during that same scene, we got to see Okoye’s pain and conflict as a paladin warrior loyal to her country and, specifically, to the royal throne. We got to see Nakia’s outrage and grief at the loss of her love, but also her resolve and ability to do something about it (”You’re a spy-you can come and go as you please!”) 

We got to see Ramonda’s grief and anger at having lost not only her husband, but now her son, too. And right in front of her at that. She has only one baby left, and that’s her only baby girl and I thoroughly believe that, had she not known it was Nakia coming out of those bushes, she would’ve cut Nakia’s throat in defense of her remaining child. 

We got to see Shuri’s grief in much the same scene (”First Baba, now brother…”) while her mother tries to shush and comfort her. We got to see her grief which may have been hidden under all of that new innovation and technology. She stayed close to her mother all the way to and through Jabariland, clearly needing the comfort of the proximity. 

And all of these women are beyond no doubt considered part of T’Challa’s family. 

All of these women were given the narrative and emotional space to continue and/or further their characterizations with the absence of the main character. 

*Kimoyo beads :P 

And yeah, this is so perfect and amazing that I honestly don’t know if there’s even much to add! 

Like, yeah, Wakanda sustained some damage after cousin Erik initiated a civil war. So it’s not the whole country that’s in shambles, but enough that there’s quite a bit of work to do.