There’s no shortage of callbacks in the MCU, but this one takes the proverbial cake. We all mourned the loss of our very own Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman, following his battle with colon cancer in 2020. Marvel seemed a little on the fence in regards to the sequel, which had already been greenlit. After much deliberation, the MCU went ahead and paid tribute to Boseman’s fallen Wakandan King, T’Challa, in a touching opening scene. By then, Marvel fans were well aware of the existence of a new Black Panther, who was teased relentlessly in the promotional run for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Many fans had already sussed it out, but the new Black Panther turned out to be none other than T’Challa’s younger sister Shuri, who had assembled a technologically advanced suit to continue T’Challa’s legacy as a new and improved version of his alias. But although we leave Boseman behind with heavy hearts, one can never forget the wisdom his T’Challa brought to the MCU. Making his debut in Captain America: Civil War, T’Challa came face-to-face with Helmut Zemo, the leader of HYDRA and associate of Red Skull, and rather than killing him in cold blood for his involvement in the demise of T’Chaka, the noble leader spared him, assuring him that he would not let vengeance consume him as it had done with Zemo.
Although Shuri wasn’t around in this present moment and hadn’t heard T’Challa utter those words, she still carries T’Challa’s wisdom forth into her own battles. When cornering Namor in Wakanda Forever, Shuri speaks on Namor’s quest to kill Wakanda’s Queen Ramonda, choosing to spare his life as T”Challa had done, imparting the same wisdom on Namor as he had done. She mentions how she wouldn’t let vengeance consume her or her people, therefore making a statement that she had overpowered Namor and could finish him off with ease, but the parts of T’Challa she had inherited advise her not to kill him.
Shuri knew deep down that murdering Namor would set her on a bloodthirsty killing spree, possibly murdering all the Atlantians who served under him to very little avail. When T’Challa died, he left behind a very broken and divided Wakanda, but Shuri refused to let him die in vain, even if to just prove to herself that she could overpower Namor and show mercy when faced with a difficult decision. There’s an argument to be made of how Shuri chooses to spare Namor for her people’s sake, rather than believing herself that it was the right thing to do. In summary, T’Challa refused to kill Zemo because he knew it was the right thing to do, whereas Shuri refused to kill Namor because it was the best thing to do for Wakanda.
No doubt murdering Namor would have sparked an all-out war between Wakandans and Atlantians, so Shuri made the smarter choice, rather than the one she thought to be morally correct.
So many more MCU moments exist that correlate with past events, but in light of Chadwick Boseman’s passing, this one might be the most impactful of all.