What Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Needed Was a Kiss

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What Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Needed Was a Kiss

Spoilers follow for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever shows its seams. It’s partially a movie about mourning Chadwick Boseman, whose August 2020 death from colon cancer came as a shock to his collaborators and castmates. It’s also an introduction to the antihero Namor (Tenoch Huerta Mejía) and his underwater kingdom of Talokan, which is rich with references to Mesoamerican history and culture. Those two narrative tracks are mostly pergent, but they could have come together in a very obvious way: Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Namor should have kissed.

Yes, you are still on Vulture dot-com, not fan-fic central Archive of Our Own. You don’t have to adjust your screens or worry about NSFW settings! But while a romantic subplot may seem at odds with Wakanda Forever’s melancholy atmosphere, the film does set up a certain kind of tension between Namor and Shuri. Both are innovators and engineers inspired by vibranium and the self-actualization it provides. Both are trying to protect their people from outsiders who would pillage their natural resources and disrupt their way of life. Both feel a certain burden about that responsibility. And as they recognize these qualities in each other, Wakanda Forever builds a slow-burn chemistry between them: a kind of good-girl, bad-guy dynamic that emphasizes Namor’s alluring antiheroism.

The pair first meet in Wakanda, which Namor infiltrates by swimming more than 100 miles underwater and then flying into the sky, on his winged ankles, to reveal himself to Shuri and her mother Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett). Namor is looking for vengeance: T’Challa (Boseman) revealed to the world the existence of Wakanda and its cache of the rare metal vibranium, and now Americans and other foreign powers are trying to find vibranium elsewhere. (There’s a hilarious dig at the French in this sequence — given France’s history in Africa, they deserve it.) The CIA and its mercenaries have found a vibranium seam underwater, and they’ve nearly discovered Namor and his people, too. Namor wants Wakanda to fetch the engineer who built the vibranium-detecting drill so he can kill them to maintain the secret of Talokan, and if they don’t, well, he’ll be back in Wakanda “under different circumstances.”

Mejía swiftly communicates Namor’s resentments at Wakanda: They’ve been able to preserve their environment by cutting themselves off from the rest of the world. Meanwhile, the Talokanil can only live in the water, which is increasingly polluted, and unlike Wakandans, they don’t have only one border to protect. Valid complaints! (And if this sounds like Patrick Wilson’s villain in Aquaman, the Marvel version of this story came first.) Equally important is the fact that Namor is inarguably and incredibly hot. Those little shorts, all that jewelry, his sneering confidence — classic sexy baddie accoutrement! You’re telling me that when Shuri notices he’s “covered” in vibranium, she’s not also checking him out? Please. Be real with me, and with yourself. And when Shuri offers to go to Talokan to negotiate with Namor on her own, yes, it is for the sake of diplomacy. But also, who would turn down an opportunity to spend more time with this man? Couldn’t be me.

In Talokan, Namor and Shuri grow close as Wakanda Forever introduces all the elements of a marriage-pact story line. First, he gives her a traditional outfit to wear, to introduce her to his culture and show its material value. Then he tells her about his family, in particular his mother — he respects a strong woman, wink, wink! — and compares their experiences of familial loss. He mentions fighting off Spanish conquistadors, which is impressive. If this were a first date (which it basically is), Namor might be talking about himself too much, but it’s all engaging stuff. He even cracks some jokes, because an antihero without a smug grin is nothing at all. And finally, he takes her on an Aladdin-magic-carpet-ride style tour of his underwater city, literally immersing her in his people’s technological advancements and unity with nature. When talking to a nationalist genius like Shuri, what is more flirtatious than explaining how you crafted a sun for your people out of vibranium?

Shuri’s eyes widen with wonder in these scenes as she realizes that she’s the first land-dwelling person Namor has ever let into Talokan. And there is absolutely a vibe between them as Shuri sets aside her distaste for tradition and makes exceptions for Namor’s Talokanil ways, all of which he must explain to her in husky, whispered undertones. And sure, it’s probably customarily polite in aristocratic circles for Shuri to allow Namor to make his case for collaboration and give her a family heirloom: his mother’s bracelet, which was crafted with strands from his people’s version of Wakanda’s heart-shaped herb. But there’s also a softening to how she behaves in this scene. As he helped fasten the bracelet on her wrist and told her “the time is now,” I completed that phrase in my own head: “The time is now … for you two to kiss.”

I am aware of the heteronormative assumption that I’m projecting here; one of my colleagues thought it was actually Shuri and American MIT student inventor Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) who had chemistry as they worked together in Shuri’s lab. And sure, Namor is arguably a villain who threatens to destroy Shuri’s country and family. A small inconvenience! Wakanda Forever mimics the beats of star-crossed lovers when setting up Namor and Shuri’s dynamic: their similar royal lineages but different worlds; the disapproval of Shuri’s mother and Namor’s highest advisers, who frown at how much time the two spend together; how often Namor leans in real close to tell Shuri something. The fact that they suffer losses on both sides because of their burgeoning relationship, including the death of Queen Ramonda, complicates their dynamic, but what’s more Romeo and Juliet than that?

When Namor tries to convince Shuri to stand alongside him in a war against the Americans, French, and others who would strike against Talokan and Wakanda for their vibranium, he tells her, “You said you wanted to burn the world. Let us burn it together,” because nothing is more romantic than attacking colonizers. Shuri’s likeness to Namor and their tentative attraction feels intentional — so much so that when Wakanda Forever presses pause on these characters to set up another Black Panther movie, rather than digging into a resolution in line with the characters’ burgeoning fascinations with each other, it feels like a tease. Maybe that’s why Namor and Shuri’s physical fight at the end is so unfulfilling: There could have been so much more angst and emotionality at stake if only the film had just followed through and let them kiss already.

The only bit of romance in Wakanda Forever comes via an affectionate but easy-to-edit-out kiss on the forehead between two members of the Dora Milaje: Florence Kasumba’s Ayo and Michaela Coel’s Aneka. The lovers share no meaningful screen time together, but Marvel did turn them into a cute GIF, if you’re into that kind of thing:

The war that consumes the Wakandans and Talokanil would have more narrative heft if it also felt tied to Namor and Shuri as inpiduals instead of institutions and to the magnetism that binds them together. “It could have been different,” Namor says to Shuri during their final fight, and he’s correct — their relationship could have been the spark this otherwise strained film needed. But the MCU has always bungled its most promising would-be romances. Until the next panel of Namor’s history-chronicling mural, meet me at AO3 … and may I recommend the surprisingly sensual The Batman?