Warning: This article contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has introduced viewers to the fictional city of Talokan, an underwater city that also utilizes vibranium as one of its main resources. However, the introduction to what has to be the Earth’s most hidden, yet powerful civilization has got people bringing up a plot hole that was not noticed since Eternals.
A debate started on Twitter about Black Panther 2’s major plot hole in terms of the MCU’s continuity. They found it odd that during the blip, no one in Talokan appeared out of the water to fight against the Mad Titan. It was shown in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever that if their civilization was provoked, they will not hesitate to attack and fight back. Even Namor gave a speech about how he was “blinded” and he wanted to show that they were stronger.
So if Talokan attacked Wakanda because one or two of their people died after Nakia rescued Shuri and Riri Williams, what happened when half of Talokan vanished? In Eternals, the Celestials had a valid-ish reason why they didn’t join the fight. They were ordered not to get involved with human affairs that don’t involve the deviants. But Talokan? They should be furious to see children, elders, and warriors vanish with no explanation for why.
Fans shared a few theories as to why the underwater civilization did not get involved in the events of the Infinity Saga. One theory suggested was perhaps Namor was a victim of the snap, so there was no one strong enough to fight back. Meanwhile, another suggested that no one in Talokan has access to information from the outside world due to them being a hidden underwater civilization. This meant that they were unaware of Thanos’ existence and just continued with their everyday life.
One thing we learned from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is that the Talokanil people needed to travel to the surface world to gather information. At the same time, the snap was quick and instant, and nobody expected Thanos would successfully execute his plan. Talokan may have no idea who did it and was just one of the victims that were affected by Thanos. As long as the perpetuator’s identity wasn’t revealed to this city, they can’t attack since it would just reveal their society to the world.
Fans could blame this on Marvel Studio’s lazy writing and that they should have planned the MCU better, especially if they’re going to be including new characters post-Thanos. But there are already Marvel titles, such as Thor: Love and Thunder, that have shown the world healing from the blip. Talokan may have been one of the few societies that have completely moved on since that event. It may just be the fans who have not.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now showing in theaters.