Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS for Black Panther ahead

-

Ryan Coogler's Black Panther is the eighteenth entry in the massive, galaxy-spanning Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the first solo outing for its titular superhero. T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) was first introduced in Captain America: Civil War, where he faced the tragedy of his father's death during a bombing of the United Nations. In Black Panther, T'Challa is crowned King of Wakanda and almost immediately thrown into a conflict with the villainous black market dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) and the lethal mercenary Erik "Killmonger" Stevens (Michael B. Jordan).

Marvel Studios did a good job of keeping Black Panther's plot under wraps before the movie's release, which means that there are quite a few surprises along the way. Let's recap the ten biggest twists, surprises and spoilers.

Related: Black Panther Spoilers Discussion

Killmonger is T'Challa's Cousin

Black Panther makes a few key changes to Killmonger's comic book origin story - and chief among them is the reveal that he's actually T'Challa's cousin. Killmonger's Wakandan name is N'Jadaka, and he's the son of King T'Chaka's brother, N'Jobu. Erik/N'Jadaka survived a tough childhood in Oakland, California, after being orphaned when he was very young. He joined the U.S. military and fought in Iraq and Afganistan, earning the nickname "Killmonger" because of the extraordinary number of confirmed kills he racked up. He then joined JSOC as a black ops soldier, before eventually becoming a mercenary. He carries out a heist job with Klaue, stealing a lump of Vibranium from a museum, because he knew that doing so will draw out the Wakandans.

All of this - he eventually explains - was part of a lifelong plan to reach Wakanda, take revenge for his father's death, seize the throne, and then use Wakanda's resources to arm oppressed people all over the world, giving them Vibranium weapons with which to overthrow their governments. Because Killmonger is descended from T'Challa's grandfather and has royal blood, he has a legitimate claim to the throne - one that he wins by defeating T'Challa fairly in ritual combat (though, as he later finds out, T'Challa doesn't die).

King T'Chaka Killed His Own Brother

In last year's Thor: Ragnarok, Thor learned some ugly truths about his father's past. In Black Panther, T'Challa uncovers a similarly disturbing revelation about T'Chaka (John Kani). After Killmonger's father, N'Jobu (Sterling K. Brown), helped Klaue to steal Vibranium from Wakanda so that it could be used to help oppressed black communities in America, T'Chaka visited him at his Oakland apartment and confronted him about it. N'Jobu was a "War Dog" - a Wakandan spy sent out into the world to gather information and carry out missions, but what he didn't know was that his best friend, James (Denzel Whitaker), was actually Zuri - another War Dog. Enraged by being double-crossed, N'Jobu pulled his gun on Zuri and T'Chaka reacted by killing him, sinking his panther claws into N'Jobu's chest. T'Chaka and N'Jobu then left, abandoning Erik and leaving him to discover his father's body.

Related: Why It Took So Long to Get a Black Panther Movie

Klaue Dies

Klaue makes a comeback in Black Panther after first appearing in Avengers: Age of Ultron, which introduced his lust for Vibranium, and also saw him lose his left arm to Ultron. He returns in Black Panther with a prosthetic arm that includes a sonic cannon (a modified Wakandan mining tool), and works alongside Killmonger to steal and sell a lump of Vibranium to the CIA - specifically, to Agent Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman). Klaue thinks that Killmonger is "just some crazy American," but is proven very thoroughly wrong when Killmonger double-crosses him and pulls down his lip to reveal a War Dog tattoo. Killmonger shoots Klaue dead and drags his body to the Wakandan border, presenting it to the Border Tribe's military leader, W'Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), whose parents were murdered by Klaue.

Zuri Dies

Zuri (Forest Whitaker) is an ageing religious leader and something of a secondary father figure to T'Challa... so naturally he's doomed. Zuri made a promise to T'Chaka never to reveal to anyone what happened to N'Jobu, but T'Challa uses his authority as king to force Zuri to tell him the truth. It's clear that Zuri is somewhat guilt-ridden by his involvement in N'Jobu's death and N'Jadaka's abandonment.

When Killmonger challenges T'Challa to a duel for the mantles of king and Black Panther, he quickly dominates the fight and brings T'Challa to the ground. As Killmonger prepares to finish T'Challa off, Zuri intervenes and asks Killmonger to kill him instead, explaining that he is the reason for N'Jobu's death. Killmonger recognizes his "Uncle James," and kills Zuri. His death is not in vain, however, as instead of finishing T'Challa with his blade, Killmonger throws him off the waterfall and into the river below - a fall that T'Challa survives.

W'Kabi Switches Sides

Not everyone is happy with Wakanda's new ruler. M'Baku (Winston Duke), leader of the independent Jabari tribe, mocks T'Challa for failing to protect his father and attempts to wrest the throne from him. The other tribal leaders accept his coronation without challenge, but later criticize him for running around acting like a superhero instead of staying at home in Wakanda. W'Kabi, the leader of the Border Tribe and commander of an army that includes Vibranium-plated war rhinos, is a formidable ally who becomes a formidable enemy after T'Challa fails to bring Klaue to justice, but Killmonger delivers his body. W'Kabi is in favor of Killmonger's plan to use Wakandan weapons to intervene in foreign conflicts, and backs Killmonger's claim to the throne with his army. However, W'Kabi is eventually brought to his knees (literally) by his lover, Okoye (Danai Gurira), the leader of the Dora Milaje.

M'Baku Comes to the Rescue

The Dora Milaje, who are bodyguards loyal to the king of Wakanda, are at first forced to back Killmonger when he defeats T'Challa in ritual combat and takes the throne for himself. However, when Okoye sees that T'Challa is still alive, she declares that the challenge is not over and Killmonger must finish it before his claim can be legitimate. Killmonger refuses, and Okoye says that he has too much hate in his heart to ever be king - commanding the Dora Milaje to defend T'Challa from W'Kabi and the Border Tribe. They're outnumbered, however, until M'Baku - who had previously said that he would not help T'Challa take back the throne - appears with his army of Jabari and evens the odds again. Later, Okoye protects M'Baku from being trampled by W'Kabi's war rhino.

Killmonger Dies

Killmonger is easily one of the best villains in Marvel Studios' ten-year history, and his powerful arc ultimately comes to a tragic end. He and T'Challa battle on the magnetic levitation tracks inside the mountain where the Wakandans mine Vibranium, which are equipped with sonic stabilizers that render the Vibranium inactive. T'Challa asks Shuri to turn on the train - and, with it, the sonic stabilizers - so that both his and Killmonger's Black Panther suits will be weakened. After the third time the train passes through, T'Challa is able to grab Killmonger's knife and stab him in the chest before the effect of the sonic stabilizers wears off.

Related: Black Panther's Secret Weapon Is Killmonger's Villain Backstory

As he is dying, Killmonger says that his father always told him how beautiful Wakanda was. T'Challa carries his mortally wounded enemy out to the edge of the mountain, so that he can see the sunset. He offers to try and save Killmonger's life, but Killmonger says that he does not want to be locked up. His final words are: "Bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors who jumped from the ships, because they knew that death was better than bondage." He then pulls the knife from his chest, and dies.

Wakanda Reveals Itself to the World

Throughout Black Panther, T'Challa struggles with the question of whether to use Wakanda's resources to help the rest of the world. Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), a War Dog who has first-hand experience with conflicts and struggles outside her home country, advocates for sharing what they have, and even taking in refugees. Killmonger and W'Kabi, meanwhile, want to use Wakanda's weapons to conquer the world, creating a Wakandan empire. In the end, T'Challa decides that Wakanda can no longer stay passive behind its borders, and establishes the first Wakandan Outreach Centre in Oakland, in the same building where N'Jobu was killed. In the film's mid-credits scene, he makes an announcement at the United Nations, promoting global unity and declaring his intention to share what Wakanda has.

Bucky Wakes Up

When Everett Ross is brought to Wakanda with a bullet wound in his spine, Shuri (Letitia Wright) comments on him being "another broken white boy for me to fix." The first broken white boy, of course, is Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). Bucky was brought to Wakanda at the end of Captain America: Civil War, and was put in cryogenic stasis until he could be cured of the mental programming that made him vulnerable to a set of trigger words. As the prelude comic for Avengers: Infinity War explains, Shuri is able to create an algorithm to flush the triggers out of Bucky's mind, while preserving his memories and personality. In the post-credits scene for Black Panther, Bucky is seen emerging from a hut in Wakanda - still missing an arm, but otherwise cured. In the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, Bucky can be seen sporting a new metal arm and fighting alongside the Wakandan army.

No Soul Stone

Given that Black Panther is the final movie before Avengers: Infinity War - the massive team-up which will finally see Thanos' (Josh Brolin) plan to collect the Infinity Stones and attach them to the Infinity Gauntlet come to fruition - many were expecting to see the final Infinity Stone make an appearance. However, the Soul Stone is nowhere to be found in Black Panther. In many ways, this is a good thing; Black Panther is quite a packed movie in terms of world-building and themes, so shoe-horning in set-up for a future movie might have felt a bit forced. Besides there will be plenty of time to track down the Soul Stone in Infinity War - and in the meantime, we can continue to speculate about where it might possibly be.

More: Black Panther Review: Hail to the Wakandan King