Black Panther Wakanda Forever: What exactly is the deal with the herb shaped like a heart? Shuri was trying to make a new one, but why?
Vibranium-rich soil is home to the heart-shaped herb. In order to transform into the superhuman Black Panther, one must consume a special plant whose qualities derive directly from the vibranium. In the first film, Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) ingested the heart-shaped herb, killed T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), and then destroyed the rest of it so that no one else could become the Black Panther and oppose him. Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) nonetheless, kept one, and she used it to resurrect T’Challa. There is no heart-shaped herb or any means to save the dying T’Challa or induct a new Black Panther in Wakanda at the beginning of Wakanda Forever. Shuri (Letitia Wright) uses a relic from the vibranium-rich Atlantean city of Talokan to create a new heart-shaped plant later on in the film.
What’s Nakia doing in Haiti? This was unclear!
Remembering that Nakia lost T’Challa twice (first to Thanos’ Snap in Avengers: Infinity War and again, five years later in Avengers: Endgame, to an unspecified illness) is crucial to comprehending her tale. As a result, she has been absent for the past six years. The majority of the events in Wakanda Forever take place in the year following T’Challa’s burial, more than five years after she originally fled the country during the Snap. What she’s been up to in Haiti isn’t shown until the mid-credits sequence, but it appears like she’s taking the time to grieve that Shuri refuses to take, and she’s also been educating young children.
When the credits roll, what happens? Do the credits roll without cutting to something else?
In the scene that plays during the credits, we find out that T’Challa and Nakia secretly had a son named T’Challa Jr., and that Nakia has been raising him in Haiti, far from the scrutiny of royalty, as T’Challa had requested. Also, there is no extra footage shown after the credits roll. The only thing we can make out is the words “Black Panther will return.” Possibly they thought it would be in poor taste to tease more Marvel products in the middle of the credits.
Nakia claims that her son’s name “holds a great history,” but she doesn’t explain why.
She’s using his Haitian name, Toussaint. It’s safe to assume that he was named after Toussaint Louverture, the leader of the Haitian Revolution that freed the island’s slaves and sparked anticolonial uprisings elsewhere. As his reputation as a great leader grew, Louverture was sometimes attributed supernatural abilities; his ability to evade capture even earned him a comparison to a tiger. You get the picture: a liberation symbol endowed with superhuman strength and resembling a lion.
