Women of Wakanda: The Radical Feminism of Black Panther

Disclaimer: Obviously, spoilers for Marvel’s recent release Black Panther. But if you’re reading this, it’s been over two weeks… wyd?!?!

I speak for a lot of people when I say that Black Panther was a movie I’d been looking forward to for the better half of almost two years. Ever since the character’s introduction in Captain America: Civil War back in 2016, I was sold. Charismatic, cool, and collected, Chadwick Boseman’s portrayal of T’Challa was a fascinating amalgamation of badassery and sheer mystery. I expected his first solo outing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to be nothing short of a blockbuster.

Recent box office updates have shown that Black Panther is headed to do just that, with domestic collections clocking in at $411.7 million as of this Tuesday, crushing the records of both Civil War and Iron Man 3.

What I did not expect from the movie, however, was the way in which it utilizes its female characters. In a sharp feminist turn, the women of Wakanda are allowed to be brilliant, beautiful, and, above all, unapologetically badass. Unlike other movies that sideline its heroines, director Ryan Coogler ensures that the women of Black Panther are front and center. In fact, for most of the movie, they often steal the show.

Let’s be clear – the Black Panther is undoubtedly the hero of the film, but it’s the women around him who ensure that he succeeds. They take up very different, very powerful roles, including the mantle of warrior, scientist, spy, and queen. In Wakanda, there are no meek and mild women waiting to be saved by their king. Instead, they are equal partners in the stakes of the nation and the fight to protect it.

And these characters don’t just serve as foils to the king – they have their own unique character arcs that meaningfully develop and shift over the course of the film. Nakia, a highly trained Wakandan spy and the king’s former flame, struggles between her love for T’Challa and her stubborn belief that Wakanda, as a nation, should be doing more to help ease the suffering of the world around them. Queen Ramonda, T’Challa’s mother, provides counsel to her son as he grapples with his responsibility as King, and she is very clearly the film’s emotional center and source of wisdom. Meanwhile, Okoye, the leader of the Dora Milaje, finds her loyalty to her nation tested when a bloodthirsty outsider takes the throne and threatens to redefine Wakanda’s legacy for good. The scene where her lover W’Kabi asks her, “Would you kill me my love?” and she responds simply, “For Wakanda? Without a question!” still gives me chills when I think about it.

Speaking of Wakanda, I must say that there is something incredibly beautiful about seeing an African nation free from the sins of colonialism onscreen. The success of Wakanda’s women, the way in which they are treated as equals and allowed to reach their fullest potential in society, shows what could have been, what should have been – which, in turn, only makes the true reality of the world so bittersweet.

I could wax poetically about the brilliant women of Wakanda for hours if you’d let me, but there’s one character who stole my heart and is really worth babbling on about: Shuri, the teenaged sister of King T’Challa. Described by director Ryan Coogler as the smartest person in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (yes, smarter than even Tony Stark and Bruce Banner), the 16-year-old princess is the brains behind all of Wakanda’s futuristic technology. As many critics have noted, her technological prowess puts Bond’s Q to shame, but she is also allowed to have impeccable style, impeccable comedic chops, and some of the best lines in the film.

What’s most personally exciting for me about her character, however, is the far-reaching implications that she will so clearly have for young girls interested in STEM. She has had the unique privilege of being brought up in a society that is smart enough to see her for her brilliance and not her gender. The fact that she is a woman of color in STEM – a rarity, in today’s world – is given no special attention in the film. That’s the way it should be if we want to lay the seeds for a technological future that’s even a fraction as evolved as Wakanda’s. But until that future arrives, it’s heartening to know that young girls, rather than shying away from their interests in science, engineering, and math will instead be able to embrace them wholeheartedly thanks to the positive influence of Princess Shuri.

The other point I’d like to touch on before signing off is this: the film makes it clear that T’Challa owes much of his strength of character to the influence of the women around him, making him arguably the most well-adjusted Marvel protagonist on screen at the moment. He is shown to have several meaningful relationships with women, all of which are based on mutual respect, trust, and admiration. He is never rude, disrespectful, or condescending to any of the women in his inner circle. In fact, more than once, T’Challa is actually shown to be outnumbered by women. And still, at no point does he make any sort of casually-sexist quip about it, pull an alpha-male move, or give any indication of discomfort. It is clear that for him, being surrounded and even outnumbered by women is, in fact, a perfectly normal situation. He never belittles them, but rather, treats the women around him like his equals.

So when T’Challa does face a critical crisis of belief regarding his father, it is with the support of the women in his life that he veers away from the usual traps of toxic masculinity. He does not make pointless emotional detours, binge-drinking like Tony Stark or hitting them out of a punching bag like Steve Rogers. Instead, he has the inner strength and self-awareness to deal with his feelings head-on. It’s that unique wisdom that elevates him over his opponent when the final showdown happens. It makes him both a good man and a great king. And at the end of the day, over high-tech suits or incredible strength – perhaps that’s the greatest superpower of all.