There’s no denying that Disney’s Marvel has found resounding success at the box office. Every year the studio releases new additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe that expand on fan excitement and add to the already impressive fortune of the Disney empire. Two of the seven Marvel movies to surpass $1 billion at the global box office came out this year, only a couple months apart. One of those was Black Panther, which has been hailed by fans and critics alike as a masterpiece within the Marvel gallery of movies.
The praise given to Black Panther is certainly warranted, with strong performances delivered by the full line-up of actors, a compelling and interesting story, and exciting action moments that easily keep viewers engaged throughout the film. Many have noted how well Black Panther stands on its own within the MCU, and has been very influential in bringing to greater light a Marvel hero that was relatively unknown before now, at least outside of the biggest Marvel fans.
That said, Black Panther isn’t without its mistakes and confusing moments. As with most movies, it’s impossible to make everything perfect, and Black Panther is no exception. While the film for the most part is able to get past some of the more trivial mistakes, others stand out like a sore thumb that have fans wondering how such bits made it through the writing or production process. Fortunately, there’s nothing devastating about these mistakes, but they are still present throughout the film.
Here are 20 Things Wrong with Black Panther We All Choose to Ignore.
No One Accidentally Found Wakanda
One of the most important safety features for Wakanda is the force-field wall that hides it in plain site in the jungles of Africa. In fact, the protecting bubbles helps not only keep out prying eyes, but also any enemies that may try to take over the futuristic kingdom.
Despite its seclusion, one has to wonder how no one has ever accidentally stumbled upon its existence.
Even if someone were to bump into the bubble and not get in, the presence of an invisible, impenetrable wall in the middle of nowhere Africa would be sure to raise a few flags.
Maybe it’s just so well isolated that no other human has ever had a need to venture out that far into the wild to stumble upon it.
He has superpowers before the heart-shaped herb?
When T’Challa is challenged for his throne, he’s forced to fight against a rival clan leader in a battle of strength and skill – without the aid of Black Panther abilities.
During the battle at the waters edge in Wakanda, T’Challa suffers a devastating wound to the shoulder with a spear. The strike would be enough to make even the most grizzled Navy SEAL falter. Yet not only does T’Challa fight through the pain, but upon completing the battle, carries on as if there is no wound whatsoever.
Granted, characters ignoring wounds in movies isn’t a new phenomenon in Hollywood, but in this case, it seems overly noticeable as T’Challa doesn’t seem to be even the least bit bothered by the giant, gaping hole in his body.
His Infinity War Elimination
There’s no denying that Black Panther was a massive success and a huge hit among Marvel fans. With so much excitement built around Black Panther, there will undoubtedly be plenty more of the feline masked hero to come. So it’s a bit odd that he would be one of the characters eliminated by Thanos’s snap in Avengers: Infinity War.
Obviously, with so much hype and excitement built around Black Panther, he will be making a comeback.
Considering the many fan theories about what will happen in the second half of Infinity War, it seems an almost guarantee at this point that Black Panther isn’t gone forever and will make a return.
It’s a bit disappointing that Marvel would go through the process of eliminating him when we all know he’ll return soon.
He survives the waterfall
During the second battle for the throne, where T’Challa has to defeat Killmonger, the latter fighter gets the best of the sitting king and successfully tosses the former Black Panther off a seriously high cliff into the waiting waters below.
Once again, with his Black Panther abilities gone, T’Challa’s body must face the impact of the water below on its own.
While the moment is cinematic, it’s unbelievable to expect someone to survive such a massive fall, especially when in an already weakened state from the preceding battle. Fortunately for fans, it seems something miraculous happened when T’Challa reached the water because he not only survived the impact, but stayed alive long enough to be found and rescued.
Killmonger challenges T’Challa after he’s already king
One of the most important plot points in Black Panther is that T’Challa’s throne can only be challenged at a certain point. Those who wish to take his position as king must show up and challenge him on that day, or miss out on the opportunity to reign.
Why is it that when Killmonger shows up out of the blue, he’s able to challenge T’Challa for the throne? Wouldn’t he have to wait until the next challenge cycle arrived?
This is especially interesting considering that the climax of the film hinges on Killmonger’s ability to challenge for the throne of Black Panther. So why would Marvel take the time to make a rule about a special day for the challenge, only to break it quickly afterward?
Nothing in the museum is labeled
Early in Black Panther, Killmonger visits a museum, with his eyes set on snatching a particular item. Audiences later learn that the item is made of vibranium and was created by the people of Wakanda.
Interestingly, as Killmonger strolls around the museum, it becomes apparent to keen eye viewers that the displays are all missing the little placard or signs that inform patrons about the items behind the glass.
Killmonger knows what he’s looking for, so at least in his case, no placards are needed.
While it’s only a small thing that has no effect on the overall plot of the movie, it’s still noticeable and one of those minor details that can have an affect on the viewing experience of fans.
The Hidden Vibranium
Speaking of items in the museum, how is it that no one would have discovered that the African artifact kept behind the glass is made of vibranium?
While most museum curators do their best to preserve all items that come through their doors, they also do their best to learn as much about an item as they can. That means that the artifact would have undoubtedly been carbon-dated to learn of its origin, at which point the curator should have discovered it is made of vibranium.
Either someone isn’t doing their job, or somehow the fact that the artifact is made of an incredibly precious piece of metal went unnoticed by everyone except Killmonger.
Vibranium makes no sense
On the topic of vibranium, it seems that while the metal is of incredible use, its properties and abilities are never fully laid out and explained in Black Panther or any other Marvel film.
The writers are able to use vibranium as the explanation for just about any plot device they want to introduce into the film.
Everything from Wakanda’s technical capabilities, to its advancements in science and engineering hinge on the mystical powers of vibranium. It’s impressive that such a simple metal can have such a significant impact on the world.
Hopefully Marvel does a better job explaining the properties of vibranium in the future so fans have a better hold on what exactly can and can’t be done with it.
Two Panthers Defy Gravity
During the climactic battle scene at the end of the film, the two Black Panthers – T’Challa and Killmonger – are fighting and fall into a large pit that looks to be the vibranium mine. As the two fall, they continue to push, pull, and punch each other until they come crashing down to the ground.
As they are falling, it seems they defy gravity, smashing into each other and throwing punches, yet never falling apart from each other.
It’s one of those moments in a film where the director wanted a cinematic fighting moment, but is forced to break the rules of nature so dramatically that it becomes almost comical. That said, considering the fantastical nature of the rest of the movie, it may not be too absurd that the two Panthers are able to defy gravity at least a little.
Cut Flirtation Between Ayo and Okoye
In today’s culture, it’s no surprise to see characters of the same gender find attraction and love. In fact, it’s very much celebrated as such instances of love are more and more accepted by society.
It’s disappointing that Marvel opted to cut a scene from Black Panther that showed Ayo and Okyoe sharing a flirtatious moment.
Naturally, once fans learned that such a moment had once been in the film, but had been cut for the final release, they moved swiftly to social media to share their thoughts. A brief movement with the hashtag #LetAyoHaveAGirlfriend was started, but the movie was released without the scene.
Agent Ross Acts Like a Rookie
In Black Panther, Agent Ross can be seen walking around speaking into his sleeve (the iconic, “look, I’m a spy” move) as he makes his way around a crowded casino. There’s simply no way that would go unnoticed, and suddenly Agent Ross would find himself the center of attention in a place undoubtedly full of criminals by making such rookie mistakes.
Hopefully after the events of Black Panther, Agent Ross received some additional training or communication tools from the people of Wakanda about how to stay hidden in plain sight. At the very least, his superiors should stick him behind a desk until he better understands how to act like a spy.
A spy roaming around Wakanda
It’s an important plot point that no one has been allowed in Wakanda, with intense discussions happening in the palace about whether or not the people should open their borders to outside countries. With such a long history of keeping people out, regardless of who they are, it’s confusing as to why T’Challa would break that streak to let Agent Ross within their borders, even if it is to help fix the man up from his wounds.
At least if they could keep him sedated the whole time until he’s healed, then drop him off outside the borders.
Thus, the Wakandans have helped a man heal using their superior technology, while keeping their secret location a secret.
T’Challa Will Be the Last Black Panther
Once Killmonger takes over as Black Panther, he orders that all the Heart-Shaped Herbs be destroyed, essentially ending any opportunity for someone else to become Black Panther. Of course, one herb is saved and given to T’Challa, who is able to overcome his battle wounds thanks to the herb’s healing abilities.
What most people miss at this point is that once T’Challa defeats Killmonger, he is literally the one and only Black Panther forevermore. Without the Heart-Shaped Herb, no one else can become Black Panther. Additionally, it no longer makes sense for anyone to challenge T’Challa’s throne, because once he loses those powers, they’re never coming back.
Hopefully there’s a secret stash of the herb hidden in a far-away land the can be recovered to continue the line of Black Panthers going forward.
Agent Ross’s Partners Let Him Go with the Wakandans
When Agent Ross is suffering from his wounds, the Wakandans offer to take him with them so they can heal him up.
Ross’ partners don’t seem to have many qualms with the Wakandans taking the agent away to an unknown land.
Not to mention, Black Panther and his crew had just showed such superhuman skill in the preceding fight.
Maybe they already knew about Wakanda and understood the Wakandans’ ability to help Agent Ross, or maybe Agent Ross’s big mouth let slip that there is a hidden people with incredibly advanced technology hidden within the jungles of Africa and knew that he would be in good hands if he were taken there.
The evil of T’Chaka
It’s revealed in the latter part of the film that T’Challa’s father, T’Chaka, eliminated his brother, N’Jobu during a heated exchange. That act of violence comes back to haunt T’Challa 26 years later, when N’Jobu’s son, Killmonger, comes after T’Challa and the throne of Wakanda.
Those who have seen the film will immediately recognize that in that moment between T’Chaka and N’Jobu, there was really no need for T’Chaka to deal a fatal blow.
The king could have easily detained his brother and taken him back to Wakanda for trial.
Of course, that would have changed the whole course of the story and the motivation for Killmonger to take on T’Challa, which ultimately helped make T’Challa a better king (most likely), but it’s still a sour point in the plot.
Klaue Conveniently Runs Out of Bullets
During the fight scene at the casino, Klaue uses traditional weapons to fight against the Wakandans (a.k.a. guns), and throws plenty of lead around the joint during the fight. In fact, he goes through so many bullets that right at the moment he most needs one – when T’Challa is standing in front of him, vulnerable and undefended – Klaue has miraculously run out of bullets and cannot kill the Wakandan king.
It’s one of those moments that often show up in films and has become a boring and lazy cliché. Fortunately, the movie didn’t have too many overly-cliché moments to frustrate viewers and keep them from giving the movie strong reviews.
Agent Ross Speaks Openly About Black Panther in Public
Anyone who has been in a public place knows that, while a room may be full of conversation, it’s best to keep important conversations to a whisper, or save them for another time.
Agent Ross seems to have missed that part of secret spy training, since he speaks openly and loudly about Black Panther in public, with plenty of curious ears around to hear him speak.
Granted, the conversation is loud enough for the audience viewing the film to hear, but the execution still leaves one feeling like Agent Ross is a bit of a reckless agent who doesn’t understand how to properly work as a spy.
Maybe he’s just been out of the field and has lost some of his tact.
Klaue Doesn’t Age
Twenty-five years is a long time, and pretty much everyone would look far different after that amount of time, especially someone involved in the stressful efforts of the criminal underworld. However, Klaue from the present and 26 years in the past look
Somehow the man hasn’t aged a day over the course of a quarter century.
With so much CGI in use in today’s movies, especially the Marvel ones, it stands to reason that the production crew could doctor the photo of Klaue from the past just enough to make him look a couple decades younger. Instead, the shot looks like it was taken moments before the man himself shows up on the screen.
Terrible CGI of War Rhinos
Speaking of CGI, it seems even the highest budget movies of today still sometimes include poorly animated CGI moments. While most of Black Panther’s CGI work is expertly done, that can’t be said about the war rhinos that show up and participate in the movie’s climactic battle sequence.
It’s almost as if the CGI crew was worn down and ready to complete the project, so they took a little less time to generate the rhinos than they did the other aspects of the film that required CGI.
Fortunately, the rhinos play a small part in the film, so their poor animation can be overlooked, but it still seems a little disappointing that with so much good CGI in Black Panther, viewers were given a poorly executed visual.
Why Shoot an Energy-Absorbing Suit with Energy?
One of the best features about the Black Panther suit is that it can absorb an impact and use that energy when fighting back. It’s one of the ways that Black Panther can take on large hordes of enemies, or great beasts and come out on top.
It’s strange that T’Challa’s sister, Shuri, the one who designed the suit and knows every intricate detail, would shoot Killmonger with energy, knowing that the suit would absorb that energy and use it against her.
It’s likely she wasn’t thinking, or maybe hoping the blast would be enough to stop Killmonger, but unfortunately for her it only made him stronger.
What else doesn’t quite add up about Black Panther? Let us know in the comments!
