‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ director names the one character who has Shuri beat

Since Shuri was introduced into the MCU back in 2018’s Black Panther, it’s been widely agreed that she is one of the smartest characters in the whole franchise, certainly on a par with Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. But it seems there’s one new addition to the universe introduced in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever who actually has the genius princess beat in one key way.

Yes, it looks like Shuri is set to meet her match in the incoming sequel, as director Ryan Coogler and producer Nate Moore revealed to Marvel.com. As has been teased in the trailers⁠—not that everyone likes what we’ve seen of her so far⁠—Dominique Thorne is making her MCU debut in Wakanda Forever as Riri Williams, ahead of her very own Ironheart TV series.

According to Coogler, Riri might just be the greatest engineer alive in the Marvel world (R.I.P. Tony), which puts her on top of Shuri in at least one scientific field. As the filmmaker explained:

“Riri has a very, very strict focus. She’s probably the best person alive at building machines and robots and, and things that can go fast. When we meet her she’s working out of a lab that’s also an auto body shop. We discover that she used to work on cars with her stepdad and she builds things that are big, muscular combustion engines.”

Moore, meanwhile, teased the dynamic we can expect from the two young women in the movie, with Shuri and Riri enjoying both a “rivalry” and a “kinship,” much as you would expect from two people so similar.

“Riri Williams is such a compelling character in publishing who also has a shared history with grief and trauma. There was sort of this karmic kinship between the two characters that became immediately apparent and made our jobs really easy. We thought it was really interesting if Shuri found someone else to be as aspirational as others end her. And so there’s this immediate both rivalry and, and, and kinship that I think plays throughout the rest of the movie and potentially on into the MCU.”

A genius at building machines she may be, but Riri might not have Shuri’s flair for costume design, if the negative reactions to her Mark II Ironheart armor are anything to go by, with folks disparagingly comparing it to something from Power Rangers. Maybe the pair can work together when creating the ultimate armor Riri will sport in the Ironheart TV series, coming to Disney Plus sometime in fall 2023. For now, don’t miss Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in theaters this weekend.