15 Black Panther Fan Theories That Are Actually Plausible

From Redditor u/Dreadful_menace:

M’Baku became the king of Wakanda and maybe Black Panther during the 5 year timeskip during Avengers: Endgame. I had this idea for a quite a while, I noticed that M’Baku was able to run at the same pace with captain america and Thor and Black Panther during the charge against Thanos’ army. That got me thinking, when T’Challa and Shuri were dusted in Infinity War, who ruled Wakanda during the 5 years? I think it was M’Baku who took the throne. Black Panther movie established that atleast M’Baku was a match for T’Challa as seen in the waterfall scene for the throne of Wakanda. And in Inifinity War both Cap and Panther out paced their own army against the marauders. He is the most capable person to lead Wakanda in their darkest time. And with the royal line of succession broken he may have taken the throne not out of personal reasons but of necessecity

From Redditor u/iceeaholic:

TL:DR - The Jabari tribe have a secret garden of heart shaped herbs and this is how M'Baku had superhuman strength and it will be revealed to create another Black Panther.

So I just rewatched Black Panther. During the final battle when M'Baku and the Jabari tribe joined the final battle M'Baku is seen using his staff weapon to hit a man into the air above him and out about 10 feet. A feat of superhuman strength. How does he do this? The Jabari have their own heart shaped herbs. When Nakia offers the herb to M'Baku, he declines. Partly out of honor but possibly because after his defeat at T'Challa's hands M'Baku decided to lead his tribe he needed more strength and used the heart shaped herb to gain that strength. He then brings them to a wounded T'Challa. They then preform the Black Panther ritual. Why is this convenient place there? Because the Jabari have their own heart shaped herb ritual and it's done there. Marvel producers have said someone else may take the Black Panther mantel but without the garden of the heart shaped herb they wouldn't have the power of the Black Panther. It will be revealed that the Jabari have grown the herbs and since they have been brought back into the fold they will share them with the Black Panther.

From Redditor u/TheZenMann:

Okay, so T'challa was able to take down Killmonger the second time they fought even though he was beaten pretty handily the first time. From what we know both fighters have had a lot of training and experience fighting. But during most of that time T'challa had super strength and speed gained from the herb. So he was quite used to fighting with it and had honed his powers for years. Killmonger on the other hand just recently gained his powers and is probably still getting used to them. Having the suit helped him stay even with T'challa. But when they went down to the mines, and their suits were disabled, T'challa had the advantage. That's how he was able to best Killmonger, because he had much more experience with his power than Killmonger did.

From Redditor u/Potatua:

Vibranium weapons, if left in their victims (such as knives left in stab victims or bullets/other projectiles) keep their victims alive. My main evidence for this is when Agent Ross is shot in Black Panther. T'challa uses a kimoyo bead to stabilize him by inserting it into the wound. We also see in age of ultron, as explained by Helen Cho, that the vibranium facilitates cellular and tissue generation. This means it would help the body heal. Furthermore, Shuri explains that vibranium allowed her to heal Agent Ross's wound. So theoretically, vibranium's healing properties would allow for a body containing it, such as one stabbed by vibraniun weapon if the weapon was left in, to stay alive longer than it would normally. What really made me think of this and the biggest contributor in terms of evidence, is Killmonger's death. He removes the vibraniun spear head (i dont know if there is a more accurate or proper term) from his chest and then keels over and dies. This heavily implies that the removal of the weapon led to his immediate death. It either pierced his heart, in which case he would died quickly unless the blade was keeping him alive through vibraniums healing properties. Or it pierced his lungs, in which case he would have died slower as the knife would have kept him alive by preventing fluid from entering his lungs and it would have taken a lot longer then 2 seconds it does for him to die. Therefore he was most likely kept alive through vibraniums healing properties, meaning vibranium weapons would keep victims alive.

From Redditor u/_toy_boat_:

There are actually two things that make Wakanda unique. Most people focus on the vibranium. But did anyone notice that their leaders must undergo a ritual with psychedelics that deepens their connection to their ancestors and the natural world? It's the only explanation why Wakanda escaped resource curse and is still not a democracy. In most cases, when you have a monarchy that controls a whole country with substantial natural resources, you get something like Saudi Arabia. It tends to deepen inequality of all kinds. And if they somehow escaped that trap and created a powerful technological society, then you would expect the business owners and professionals to overthrow the monarch, like European nations and America, and colonize or dominate other nations militarily.

Wakanda's leaders refused to do this. They would have had to have incredible foresight and wisdom to not develop their nation in either of those ways. And they also would have had to put down internal dissension. So perhaps the real superpower of the Black Panther is to be a values-driven leader, and an incredibly skilled diplomat and planner. The movie mentions that the Black Panther was able to unite four of the five tribes of Wakanda, and has at least managed to stave off war with the fifth tribe. Maybe nobody wants to go back to those bad old days where everyone was at war. This also explains why they haven't gotten rid of the single-combat ritual and the monarchy. Perhaps one has to be unusually strong, physically, to even accept the heart-shaped herb.

[Read the full theory here]

From Redditor u/rgtxd26:

After the events of BP, T'challa decides to share the Vibranium with other countries. What if Tony Stark bought the Vibranium from T'challa after he makes it public. Tony Stark has limitless applications by using Vibranium for his tech and suits. Maybe that's how he was able to make the nanotech suit we see in Infinity War and Endgame. The properties of Vibranium enabled him to make new technology like nanotech in a very less time. Tony Stark and T'challa never interacted on-screen but they might have interacted after Civil War when Cap left him on Siberia and possibly became friends.

Even in SMH, Happy references of a new shield for Captain America and Tony wouldn't have made it with any other metal because that would be useless for Cap's fighting style and the villains he fights. So it is more likely that Tony used vibranium to make that shield. And in Civil War, when Cap leaves the shield with Tony it has scratches made from Black Panther's claws. When Tony returns it to Cap in Endgame, it has no damage which means he repaired it. He couldn't have repaired vibranium scratches without using vibranium which again implies that Tony had vibranium with him. The shield that Cap gives to Sam is a bit different from the original shield. There might be a chance that that shield was the one made by Tony referenced in SMH.