Marvel's Phase 4 cut its best Black Panther story from What If...?  by removing a confrontation between Wakanda's Princess Shuri and T'Challa's cousin Killmonger. Marvel has confirmed that the Black Panther sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is green-lit for a 2022 release, with Shuri potentially taking up the role as T'Challa's heir following the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman from cancer in August 2020. However, Marvel has yet to truly showcase the potential of Wakanda's princess as a worthy successor to her brother's legacy as the ruler of Wakanda and as its hero the Black Panther. 

The current assumption is that Shuri could become the next Black Panther. The precocious teenaged royal is Wakanda’s technological genius, and rivals Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and Peter Parker for the crown of highest IQ in the MCU. She developed Wakanda into an ultra-high-tech society by utilizing the bedrock of rare metal vibranium which the nation is built upon. Shuri has had brief opportunities to demonstrate her capabilities as a fighter against Thanos' army in Avengers: Infinity War, and again in the battle for earth in Avengers: Endgame. However, she has not yet been given a position to truly showcase her potential as a hero on her own terms.

Related: How Legends Already Gave Star Wars Its Own What If...? Series

Marvel’s What If...?, episode 9, “What If The Watcher Broke His Oath?” unfortunately removed a crucial opportunity to legitimize Shuri as the next Black Panther - albeit, an alternate universe version of Shuri. The season finale saw Shuri and Pepper Potts launch an attack against Killmonger moments after What If...? narrator The Watcher took the marine to join his Guardians of the Multiverse team. Providing Shuri with the opportunity to prove herself as T’Challa’s successor is a crucial milestone in the MCU’s Phase 4. The confrontation would have proven a fitting passing of the torch from T’Challa to Shuri, in a fight which could have mirrored T'Challa's combat against Killmonger for the throne of Wakanda in 2018's Black Panther. Removing the fight from the finale episode of What If...? denied Shuri the chance to confront her enemy, and subsequently barred from proving her worth as both a warrior and a hero.

Shuri and Black Panther in the MCU

T'Challa's fight against Killmonger was a personal, heroic arc that pitted the prince against a complicated adversary. Fighting Killmonger stripped away T'Challa's naivety on the suffering outside his borders. The revelation matured him into a hero who could shoulder the responsibility of leading on an international stage, breaking away from Wakanda's long-standing isolationist policy. The MCU wasted an opportunity to demonstrate how powerful Shuri will be as Black Panther, but also squandered the chance to showcase her growth on a hero's journey of her own. Shuri is the next in line to take up the mantle of the Black Panther, but it is a hollow mantle without a beating heart behind it.

Killmonger came to Wakanda as T’Challa’s dark shadow, a twisted sort of conscience to his nation’s past crimes. The returning royal forced the Black Panther to wrestle with his legacy as a leader and a King, and forced T’Challa to contend with the true spirit of his father’s rule, which saw Killmonger’s father dead at the hands of his own family. Killmonger is cited as the MCU’s best villain by a significant number of fans, and with good cause. If Shuri had faced Killmonger in battle in What If...?, she might have had the chance to face her destructive mirror image in Killmonger. The best villains make their heroes face their own personal demons. Shuri might have learned from the encounter the same lessons T’Challa had to learn in order to become a ruler worthy of his people, and eventually the hero the Avengers turned to in their hour of need - preparing audiences for the main universe's Shuri to take up her brother's hero mantle.

Next: Phase 4 Set Up A Wild Thanos Cliffhanger For Nothing

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