8 Burning Questions We Have After Watching Black Panther

The latest smash hit MCU movie, Black Panther, is now here and it provides answers to many questions that we've been asking for months, such as whether it would feature any Infinity Stones or Avenger appearances, what Stan Lee's traditional cameo would be and just how it would set up Avengers: Infinity War. But as well as checking off those questions, it also left us with a load more that we have to figure out the answers to. Black Panther had an enviable job to do by introducing us to a brand new culture and as such, we now have a couple of lingering things we'd like clarified about that. The movie also leaves a few plot points for future installments to pick up that we can't wait to see explained. Not only that, but we think it might hint at some major developments to come in the MCU, too. And so, on that note, here are eight of the biggest questions we were left pondering after watching Black Panther. Obviously, we'll go into full spoilers here, so be warned if you haven't seen it yet. For the rest of you, let's see if we can untangle these mysteries together, shall we? When Exactly Is It Set? OK, this is probably only a question that the most hardcore of MCU fans are wondering after Black Panther, but it's still worth asking: Just when is the movie set? As the franchise rolls on, it's getting more and more difficult to nail down the timeline. The smart thing would be to just ignore it all and enjoy the movie, then, but let's try and pull some sort of answer together. The opening of the pic establishes that it's been just days since King T'Chaka was murdered by the brainwashed Bucky Barnes and T'Challa ascended to the Wakandan throne. This handily means that we can neatly stack it immediately after Captain America: Civil War. Going by comments made in that film that Tony Stark had been Iron Man for eight years at the time, we can confidently say that both movies are then set in 2016. That said, things get more complicated than that when you remember the inconsistencies in other MCU efforts. For instance, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has been confirmed to take place in 2014, and yet Stan Lee references his Civil War cameo in it. Likewise, Spider-Man: Homecoming has to come soon after Civil War and yet it appears to be set in 2020. Yeah, let's just go with our first idea, then, and ignore all this and just enjoy the movie. Will We See More Of Killmonger (And Klaue)? After fans had been complaining for years that the Marvel Cinematic Universe rarely gave us a good villain, the past few MCU movies have served up some consistently great ones - Homecoming's Vulture and Thor: Ragnarok's Hela. Thankfully, we can now add Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger to the list, too, as he's arguably the most fleshed out and layered antagonist the franchise has had since Loki. Unfortunately, it looks like he's a one-and-done character as Killmonger dies in battle with T'Challa at the end of Black Panther. Considering how good he is, though, we really hope they find a way to resurrect him. After all, vibranium has so many amazing properties (more on that in a moment), and we know it can heal people, so it's not too far-fetched to think he might return. What's more, there's even a comic book precedent for it - as Killmonger has been revived after death a few times on the page. While we're on the topic of resurrecting villains, Andy Serkis' Ulysses Klaue also meets an unexpected end during the movie. It seems unlikely he'll return as he was seen as a corpse in a body bag, but you never know. Certainly with those two foes gone, Black Panther has blasted through the character's two biggest villains in one go. If neither of them come back, we're not too sure who will be the main antagonist in the sequel. Is T'Challa The Last Black Panther? After he bests T'Challa in combat, believing him dead, Killmonger gets to be crowned king of Wakanda and ingest the heart-shaped herb that gives the monarch his powers, allowing him to become the Black Panther. After he's been through the process, he orders that the rest of the crop of herbs be destroyed, though Nakia manages to save one to give to T'Challa later, thereby restoring his own abilities. But does this mean that T'Challa is now the last ever Black Panther and that the line of super-powered protectors ends with him? Sure, future kings and queens can wear the high-tech vibranium suits, but they won't have the benefit of getting the Black Panther's enhanced strength, senses and agility without eating the herb. Well, it's not confirmed in the movie itself, but we imagine that more heart-shaped herbs will be able to be produced. The whole of Wakanda is still full of vibranium from the alien meteor that struck the country in prehistoric times, and it's this that gives the plants their special properties. As such, it's likely that more herbs can be grown in time for the next Black Panther - which will probably be Shuri. Does Vibranium Have Any Limits? Speaking of vibranium, the fictional metal has been a major part of the MCU for years now, ever since Howard Stark made Steve Rogers' shield out of the material in Captain America: The First Avenger. It wasn't until Avengers: Age of Ultron, though, when we were told that it had more useful properties. As Ultron said, "the most versatile substance on the planet... And they used it to make a Frisbee." In Black Panther, we finally get to see just what Ultron meant. Apart from being the strongest metal on Earth, it can also mutate plantlife somehow and, when used in T'Challa's current Black Panther costume, can absorb kinetic energy. Most amazingly of all, it can even be used to heal someone from likely paralysis (eg: Shuri was able to cure Everett Ross' gun shot wound on his spine with the stuff). With this in mind, we have to ask: is there anything that vibranium can't do? The filmmakers have been open about the fact that they used its ambiguous nature in the comics to flex the rules and use the metal however they wanted. It's a handy "get out of jail free" card to pull when the plot needs it, sure, but we'd like there to be some kind of thinking behind how exactly it works. What Will The Consequences Be For Wakanda Coming Clean? Black Panther's first post-credits scene is a continuation of the big decision that T'Challa came to in the movie's final moments - to tell the rest of the world about Wakanda's secrets. The sequence saw the king making a speech to the United Nations about how his country would begin sharing its knowledge, wealth and technology, hopefully with the aim of making the world a better place. This scene framed the move as a positive thing, as it saw T'Challa taking Wakanda into the 21st century and using its power to help out the rest of mankind. While those are some lofty ideals, though, there've got to be some serious consequences to suddenly lifting the lid on everything Wakanda has been keeping secret for hundreds of years. For one thing, T'Challa will surely run into lots of political issues, though we imagine these will be settled off-screen as they're not particularly interesting. If a Black Panther 2 does happen, though - which it surely will - we can see the sequel exploring the magnitude of what T'Challa has done. No doubt he'll have a lot of civil unrest on his hands from his own people, particularly M'Baku and the J'Bari tribe, for tearing up Wakandan tradition. The country will also likely have a ton of unwanted attention from the outside world from now on. It could even become a tourist hotspot. So Is Bucky Cured Now...? You'll recall that the post-credits scene for Captain America: Civil War introduced Wakanda for the first time, as Steve Rogers took Bucky Barnes there to be cryogenically frozen. The plan being that T'Challa would get his best minds onto the job of curing him of his HYDRA brainwashing. Fast forward to Black Panther's own post-credits scene and Bucky is now unfrozen again and living low amongst the Wakandan villagers. We see him talk to T'Challa's sister Shuri in the scene and it seems that he's pretty much back to his old self. So, has he been cured? The answer to that is yes, but you won't find that explained in the movie at all. We only know this thanks to the official Black Panther tie-in prequel comic, which featured a brief scene where Shuri revealed that she'd created an algorithm that basically flushed HYDRA's tinkering out of Bucky's brain. This is a pretty important piece of info to dump in a spinoff comic, but it's possible that it'll be reiterated on screen in Avengers: Infinity War. ... And Will He Stay In Wakanda? We're not done asking questions about Bucky just yet. This post-credits scene also features something else of interest. The local children that Bucky seems to have befriended call him "White Wolf." If you know your Black Panther comics, this is a name that could suggest what Bucky's future in the MCU might look like. In the comics, Hunter AKA White Wolf is the name of a Caucasian boy who survived a plane crash that came down in Wakanda. He was adopted by King T'Chaka and raised as T'Challa's adoptive brother. He then went on to become the head of Wakanda's secret police. Obviously, Bucky and Hunter's backstories vary a lot, but there is a clear connection between them as they're both outsiders who come to adopt Wakanda as a home. As such, it has us wondering whether Bucky's set to stay in Wakanda after the events of Avengers: Infinity War? Obviously, this is very tough to say right now as so much of the MCU's Phase Four is up in the air. Bucky could become the next Captain America for all we know. If he doesn't, though, Sebastian Stan may find a new home in the MCU as part of the Black Panther franchise. Where IS The Soul Stone? As the final MCU movie to arrive before Avengers: Infinity War, fans were going into Black Panther confidently expecting there to be some sort of revelation about the last Infinity Stone that needs to be located: the Soul Stone. In the trailers for the ensemble movie, for instance, we've seen that much of the plot will take place in Wakanda. Which kind of suggests that there will be something that's of interest to Thanos hidden in the country. As it was, though, Black Panther left us none the wiser to where the Soul Stone is. However, it's still very possible that it's hidden in Wakanda somewhere. The obvious suggestion is that it came down with the vibranium meteorite and is the reason why it's so powerful. It's also worth mentioning that the colour of the dust T'Challa is buried in when he enters the realm of his ancestors is orange - the colour of the Soul Stone. And what could suggest the Soul Stone's influence more than encountering the spirits of dead loved ones? The real clincher, though, is the common fan theory that the Infinity Stone locations spell out Thanos' name. For instance, T for Tesseract (Space Stone), A for Aether (Reality Stone), N for Necklace (Time Stone), O for Orb (Power Stone) and S for Scepter (Mind Stone). Could the H stand for Heart-shaped Herb? Of course, we could be way off-track here, but thankfully, we don't have long to wait before we find out, as Infinity War arrives in theaters in May. And hopefully it's every bit as good as Black Panther.