Spoiler Warning: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

There’s something suspicious happening behind the scenes of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Yes, Wakanda and Talocan had a big fight, Shuri is the new Black Panther, and Riri Williams is Ironheart, but there’s more to this movie than the regular plot. Some events will echo well into Phase 6 of the MCU timeline. Wakanda has experienced some big changes in how it plays on the international stage, and everyone seems to be out to get their vibranium. Some things have happened in the movie that gives us the impression that evil forces are moving in the shadows.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever clued us into some major changes in the CIA, and fans mostly think this will set us up for the future of the MCU in Captain America: New World Order and Thunderbolts. Namor seemed to have his own plans to manipulate the political situation, which will no doubt lead to some level of global conflict. But Marvel is still working on revealing some of their other top-tier villains for the rest of this phase, and someone has to be pulling the strings. So, strap on your tin foil hats, conspiracy nuts, because something is happening here, and it stinks all the way to the top!

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Everyone Wants Vibranium

     Marvel Studios

At the very beginning of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, we see an attack on a Wakandan outreach facility. Several special forces soldiers break into what could be a storage or mining facility for vibranium and try to take the vibranium by force. Of course, the Dora Milaje can defeat the soldiers and parade them in front of the UN, where it’s implied that it was the French who led the attack.

Throughout the entire movie, other nations are trying to get vibranium. It seems to be the goal of everyone on Earth-616 at the moment. Until recently, Wakanda was the only known nation on Earth with vibranium, and 90% of the world still believes that. When the people of Talocan attack that CIA mining vessel in the ocean, the Americans assume it’s the Wakandans.

Everyone believes that Wakanda is purposely withholding vibranium for political or economic reasons. This attack reinforces the idea that Wakanda is aggressively preventing the distribution of vibranium for the sole purpose of keeping itself in a position of power. From another nation’s perspective, this assault on an American vessel claiming a (as far as they know) neutral deposit of vibranium demonstrates that Wakanda is willing to go out of its way to keep the rest of the world from getting vibranium. Not only does this make Wakanda an aggressor in the eyes of the UN, but it allows Talocan to use Wakanda as a scapegoat every time they attack the surface world.

Namor knows this. At the end of the movie, he reveals it was his plan to manipulate the Wakandans into making an alliance with Talocan. Namor wants to alienate the vibranium-controlling nation from the rest of the world and then put a target on their back for everyone else to aim for. If he can get the other nations of the world to attack Wakanda, he can start a war that will give him the excuse to come to the surface and protect his ally.

Once there, there’s nothing stopping Namor from wiping out the other surface nations and securing their resources. But why would he want this? More than punishing them for enslaving his people, more than conquering the land, why is he not happy to live peacefully under the ocean, so long as no one nation threatens him?

Namor Is Being Persuaded to Act

Aside from having a deep hate of the surface world, we weren’t told of any kind of incentive Namor would get from attacking those people. But there are more powers at work here than just Namor and Wakanda. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine made quite a big cameo in this movie as the Director of the CIA. We’ve seen her before in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Black Widow. We know she’s recruiting powerful super-people, and many fans believe her appearance in Wakanda Forever was another good setup for Thunderbolts. Being Director of the CIA puts her in a position of power, and she made it clear that she’s trying to grab all the vibranium she can get her hands on. But what if she’s playing both sides?

Fans of the comic books will know that Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is an undercover agent working for Leviathan, a clandestine organization bent on world domination. It’s possible that she could be trying to instigate this global conflict in order to create an opening for Leviathan. Namor could be being told by Valentina or someone else that it’s only a matter of time before the surface world comes for him. That pressure to make him act could instigate a global war. This conflict may not be as simple as it appears, but it could be the result of the machinations of some dark Illuminati.