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.
