Why did Shuri see Killmonger and not her mom or brother?
Arguably the biggest surprise in all of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, one that’s so secret even Shuri herself doesn’t speak of it, is that she sees her cousin, the evil Erik Killmonger, and not her mother or brother when she enters the Ancestral Plane. We asked director Ryan Coogler about this and will have his answer next week, but it’s obviously a complex choice with its answer weaved deep into Shuri’s journey.
Shuri is practical. That she wasn’t able to science her way to saving her brother has made her angry at the world. Plus, she hasn’t properly grieved and just lost her mother to Namor, who is punishing her and her country for T’Challa’s actions. Obviously, revenge is on her mind, and seeing Killmonger is the perfect antidote to that. By personifying her emotions, she can see why they’re so wrong. It’s exactly the thing she needs to be 100% sure in her convictions later, knowing it’s okay to feel those feelings, but also that ultimately—unlike Killmonger—she can resist indulging them.
