‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ secretly fixes one of ‘Avengers: Endgame’s most egregious oversights

Warning: This article contains full spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

After watching Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, we’re all left with so many questions and thoughts about that wholly moving and shocking post-credits scene. Even though it’s been confirmed that the concept predated Chadwick Boseman’s death, the tag sequence’s big reveal feels like the perfect way to honor both the late actor and King T’Challa as well as continue the Black Panther legacy moving forward. Yes, T’Challa and Nakia have a son.

As we learn along with Shuri, Toussaint — whose Wakandan name is T’Challa II — was born and raised in Haiti outside of the limelight, as his parents felt it best that he enjoy a regular childhood away from the pressures of the Wakandan throne and the danger of being tangled up in Black Panther business. The exact timeline of his life is left vague in the movie itself, but if you do the math, you realize that T’Challa Jr. must have been born prior to the events of Avengers: Infinity War.

In dropping this twist, then, Marvel is actually subtly fixing one of the biggest oversights of both Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The beauty of those two films is that virtually every one of our MCU favorites returned to join in the fight against Thanos. Especially in that final battle. Even Howard the Duck joined in the fun, for Gorr’s sake. And yet Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia was nowhere to be seen, despite every other warrior from the Wakanda corner of the MCU turning up.

Obviously, the IRL reason for her absence was due to Nyong’o being unavailable due to scheduling conflicts, but it made little sense in-universe why she wouldn’t take part in a battle for the sake of the entire cosmos, especially as Black Panther ended with her and T’Challa committing to each other. Now, finally, we have an entirely valid answer for Nakia’s curious disappearance from the franchise for so many years.

Now we just have to hope she won’t miss the next Avengers event. Marvel, make sure Lupita’s free for Secret Wars ASAP.