In case you forgot, Disney announced on December 15 that it will be purchasing the rights to make movies for characters from the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and their villains respectively too. This weekend marked the first Marvel movie to come out since this acquisition, so many were wondering whether the X-Men would make their MCU debuts this week in Black Panther. And while there was no official meeting of the two worlds, I believe that Black Panther leaves for a clear path for Marvel to introduce these new characters to the world that we all have grown to love.
***** SPOILER WARNING! *****
This article is solely for those who have already seen the Black Panther movie. This article includes parts of the ending, potential future scenes, and scenes from the end of the credits as part of the argument placed. From here on is essentially one major spoiler of the movie.
1. Our villain is a little too familiar.
Erik Killmonger grew up watching people like him being oppressed and bigoted against on a daily basis. He watched as people like him died, and he learned at a young age how to work the system. When he got older, he believed that the only way to keep people like him safe was to make sure that they are the more powerful ones. That included killing people who are different than him just to maintain the strength.
Erik Lehnsherr was born to a German-Jewish family right before World War Two. His father was a decorated first World War veteran. During the Holocaust, he watched as his family was murdered in front of him, as well as many of his neighbors and friends. When he gained his powers, he swore that this would never happen again to people like him, so when mutants were being discriminated against, he started fighting back, demanding that they be treated equally. When he saw that the arguing was futile, he decided the only was for mutants to be safe was for them to attack humans and become the ones in charge.
2. In the comics, Black Panther's wife is Ororo, also known as Storm from X-Men.
So this one is completely how I think this will go, and nothing is confirmed, but it makes sense to me. In the next Black Panther installment, we see the rise of Magneto, and his right hand side is Ororo. Magneto has come into Wakanda with Ororo, in hopes of stealing some Vibranium, due to the fact that it is the most powerful metal on earth, and he plans to use it to intimidate other people. When they get there, a giant battle ensues between Ororo, Magneto, the Dora Milaje, Black Panther, and Shuri. During the fight, Magneto mentions why he needs it, and it immediately reminds him of the late Killmonger, which causes him to slip up and Ororo beat him. They don't get too far, because while Magneto gets some Vibranium, he leaves Ororo behind. Ororo and Shuri and T'Challa become close together reminiscing on Killmonger, and he decides that he wants to help Magneto, but in a very small way, as to look like he is not helping them in the public's eye.
Over the course of the film we see Ororo become closer, and Nakia, the spy ex-girlfriend of T'Challa informs him that she is a mutant too, and that she is nothing but trouble. This angers him, and he ignores her, and accepts her for the way she is. The movie ultimately leads to the beginning of their relationship, when Ororo realizes how radicle Magneto is, and tries to get T'Challa to back off a little in helping him.
3. Because Wakanda is too technologically advanced, it would make sense for many of the characters to be mutants, and for them to already be able to tell if someone is born with the mutant gene.
I personally think that it would be awesome to see Shuri, T'Challa's younger sister called a mutant who was born with a super brain. It would be really cool to see if some of the tribes were placed in charge of certain aspects of Wakanda because of their mutant abilities. Maybe many of the Dora Milaje were born with either super speed, or some other attribute that helps them learn fighting a lot faster.
4. Combining characters from the X-Men and characters like Shuri and Spiderman could help create the Young Avengers.
The Young Avengers is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. While the Avengers are the adults who fight the major leagues, the Young Avengers are the younger heroes, like Shuri, Spiderman, and maybe we can see some of the X-Men when they were younger and see them join a team, than have another adult reboot that might actually work for once.
Combing all the elements, it only makes sense for Black Panther and the X-Men to be connected. The characters overlap, and they deal largely with the same issues like discrimination, being different, and the discussion of open boarders for strangers and different people.