Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Post-Credits Scene Explained

Before the credits begin, we watch Shuri burn a shirt and reminisce on what was taken. When we return to her on a Haitian beach, midway through the credits sequence, and with the sunshine and tide washing in, we’re at last allowed to gain something precious in return.

From off-screen, Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) approaches with a child… her child. Nakia introduces the boy with a Haitian name, but the lad soon admits to his auntie that his real moniker is Prince T’Challa. He’s named after his father. This late surprise is achieved because of a questionable subterfuge: Before his death from an unspecified illness, T’Challa and Nakia agreed in secret to hide the birth of their child so that the boy could grow up with a normal childhood in Haiti, away from the pressures of the Wakandan throne and line of succession. T’Challa apparently also prepared his distant family for his death.

Admittedly, it’s a little dubious that T’Challa would feel the need to hide the birth of his child from even his mother and sister. The idea also raises questions since the boy’s age suggests he (and Nakia) survived the snap from Avengers: Infinity War (2018) while T’Challa and Shuri clearly did not. Does that mean T’Challa didn’t even know about his son until he returned from beyond “the blip?”

However, to nitpick such details is to get lost in the weeds. What matters is this reveal is an emotional haymaker that hits you in several places. On a story level, it allows Shuri to find not only closure but renewal. For the last several movies, Shuri’s life has been marked by a never ending parade of loss: the death of a father, the death of a brother, and the death of a mother. And even before her onscreen exit, Angela Bassett’s Queen Ramonda delivers chills when she intones, “I am queen of the most powerful nation in the world, and my entire family is gone!” Yet it really is Shuri who becomes the last one left. Everyone else is gone to the Ancestral Plane.

At the end of things though, the universe gives something back. Suddenly, Shuri’s family has a future, and she is not so alone in this world.

Additionally, it is once again a way for Coogler and Marvel to acknowledge the beautiful role Chadwick Boseman played in pop culture. As T’Challa, Boseman presented a new and wildly popular symbol for Black strength and courage. Millions of children around the world, perhaps for the first time, could see themselves in the visage of Hollywood’s currently most powerful myth: the superhero.