In 1571, the Yucatán people fell ill to the plague. One man found a
plant and along with other people, drank it. The substance turned the
people blue and made them incapable of breathing in air. They quickly
moved to the ocean and created a civilization in the deep water,
Talokan. One of the women who ingested the plant had a baby named
K'UK'ulkan. The baby grew up to become ruler of Talokan. When Fen died,
she asked to be buried on the land. K'UK'ulkan led some guards up to the
land where he saw a civilization. They attacked the civilization to
make room for his mother's burial. One of the villagers called him
"Namor," meaning "the boy without love."
Shuri works in her lab,
trying hard to create an artificial Heart-Shaped Herb to use for her
brother and Wakanda's king, T'Challa, who is dying of an illness.
Ramonda slowly walks into the lab, announcing the King's death. A year
later, Wakanda is having trouble with other nations wanting their
Vibranium. The Dora Milaje catch French military men trying to steal
from their outpost. Later, Ramonda talks to the United Nations and
reveals the French's attempt to steal. She reminds the countries that
even though the Black Panther is gone, they will still fight.
At a
mining outpost, Americans mine in the ocean using a vibranium detector
that was created by an MIT student, Riri Williams. They use this to find
vibranium in the ocean. Suddenly they come under attack by Talokanils
who do not want them stealing their vibranium. The last remaining
helicopter of survivors is struck down by Namor. In Wakanda, Ramonda and
Shuri go to the water and mourn the year since T'Challa's passing. They
burn their funeral garments to signify the end of the mourning period,
despite Shuri not being completely ready for this. Namor then arrives,
getting through the border by going under the water. He reveals to them
the existence of Talokan and wants their help to stop foreigners from
taking vibranium. He also explains that Wakanda is not the only place
that has vibranium, Talokan has it too. Ramonda tells him off, worried
of his presence. He tells them he is going to kill the scientist who
made the machine and that they can help him, but they cannot get in his
way.
Shuri and Okoye go to meet Everett Ross, who gives them the
name and location of the young scientist, despite possibly giving away
private information. Okoye and Shuri then go to Cambridge, Massachusetts
to find Williams. They follow her to her garage where she reveals that
she is working on an Iron Man type armor. However, they are followed by
the FBI. The three get away, Okoye in a car, Shuri in a motorcycle, and
Williams in her armour. Suddenly, they are met by Talokanils, Attuma and
Namora. A brief skirmish ends in Shuri and Williams getting captured.
Ross
arrives at the scene the next day and meets with his ex-wife, Valentina
Allegra de Fontaine. He also finds Kimoyo Beads and hides them. In
Wakanda, an infuriated Queen Ramonda reprimands Okoye for losing Shuri,
which is exacerbated by previous incidents such as when she seemingly
sided with Killmonger when he usurped the throne, and fires her from her
position as general. Shuri and Williams wake up in Talokan. Namor shows
Shuri the civilization, trying to convince her of his ideals, even
giving her his mother's bracelet. However, she disagrees in killing
Williams. Meanwhile, Ramonda goes to Haiti to see Nakia, who had left
Wakanda six years prior. She asks Nakia to find Shuri for her. Nakia
does some spying and figures out the location. She then breaks Williams
and Shuri out as Ramonda talks to Namor about his plan.
They
return to Wakanda, but only for more torment as Namor and his people
invade. They flood the city causing an all out war. Namor takes care of
all of the Wakandan vehicles before flooding the throne room holding
Ramonda and Williams. Williams starts drowning, so Ramonda swims to save
her. She is able to get Williams to safety, but only to drown in the
process. Shuri mourns her mother's passing as Namor tells her she is
Queen now. He and his people then leave the country. Meanwhile, Allegra
de Fontaine finds out that Ross has been communicating with Wakanda this
whole time and has him arrested.
M'Baku talks to Shuri after the
funeral and gives her moral judgement that she should not kill Namor.
He then tells her he will provide housing for the displaced Wakandans
following the attack. Shuri then uses Namor's mother's bracelet to
create the artificial heart-shaped herb which finally works. She goes to
the Astral Plane after taking it and is greeted by Erik Killmonger, who
claims they are the same. They argue a bit before Shuri claims she is
going to kill Namor out of revenge. Shuri wakes up and makes herself a
suit. She then drops into a meeting between M'Baku and the elders as the
Black Panther.
In preparation of the battle, Shuri and Williams
realize that they could weaken Namor by heating his body up to where it
cannot get oxygen. They then make a second Ironheart armor. Shuri gives
Okoye new armor, acting much like Iron Man's as well, called the
Midnight Angels. Okoye recruits Aneka to be apart of her two woman team.
In the ocean, they use a vessel to lure the Talokanils into a trap. The
battle commences as Namor seems to gain the upperhand. However, Black
Panther traps him in a Royal Talon Fighter as they take off away from
the battle. Meanwhile, the Dora Milaje fight the Talokanils on the side
of the vessel while the Jabari Tribe, Nakia, and the others battle the
ones on top. Ironheart and the Midnight Angels take care of the airborne
Talokanils.
Black Panther heats up the Royal Talon Fighter,
weakening Namor, but he begins to break out with his spear. Black
Panther shoots a blast from her Vibranium Gauntlets which explodes the
whole ship, sending the two adversaries into the island below. The two
fight some more until Namor impales Shuri. However, instead of finishing
her off, he is more worried about getting to the water before he dies.
An injured Black Panther breaks free and gets in front of the limping
Namor. She then yells "Wakanda Forever" as she armors up, sending a
blast from the exploding Talon Fighter into Namor. He is set ablaze as
he collapses. She stands over him to finish him off, but remembers her
brother, T'Challa. With these memories of the man he was, she decides to
spare Namor's life as long as he returns to Talokan.
Namor has
gratitude for the Black Panther and joins her as they return to the
fight scene and tell everyone to stop fighting. Black Panther then yells
"Wakanda Forever" once again as the rest repeat it back. In the
aftermath, Williams returns to MIT without her armor as the Wakandans do
not want any controversy with letting her keep it. Shuri leaves for
Haiti instead of challenging for the throne, which ultimately is
challenged by M'Baku. Later, Namor paints in his room as Attuma greets
him. Namor assures her that their new alliance with Wakanda will be
beneficial. On his way to prison, Okoye breaks Ross out of custody.
In
Haiti, Shuri meets with Nakia before leaving for the beach where she
burns her funeral ceremonial robe in accordance to Ramonda's wishes,
allowing her to finally grieve T'Challa.
In a mid-credits scene:
Shuri learns that Nakia and T'Challa have a son, Toussaint, who Nakia
has been raising in secret far from the pressure of the throne.
Toussaint reveals his Wakandan name is T'Challa.
