The following contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, now in theaters.
It's safe to say that everyone expected Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to be about grief and trauma. After King T'Challa's untimely death, Princess Shuri and Queen Ramonda try to process things but end up at odds, as Ramonda wants Shuri to embrace the beauty of their empire and tradition. However, Shuri's insistent on holing up in her lab, obsessed with science.
However, as Ramonda keeps prodding, the movie reveals Shuri's bitterness and anger. It's all part of the mourning process, although Shuri makes a hateful statement that feels off-script. But upon reconciling what her kingdom's been through, the movie doesn't even need to back up what she says because it's already been set up in Avengers: Infinity War.
Black Panther 2's Shuri Is Initially Menacing
When Ramonda asks her to perform a ritual after T'Challa's death by a river, Shuri says she's filled with rage. In fact, she admits she'd prefer to burn the world than her funeral garb, which Namor hears and latches onto. It's why he later tries to broker a deal with her, wanting Wakanda to join his Talokan forces and attack the surface to ensure invaders would never think to come to their homes.
That is why, after Namor kills Ramonda and Shuri's darkness grows, Killmonger comes to her in the Ancestral Plane. Sure, the vindictiveness towards Namor makes sense, but Killmonger speaks to Shuri's previous ire and how she's like him. She doesn't care for nobility, honor or the hopes and dreams of her mom -- she just wants blood. And admittedly, it does catch fans off-guard because there's not really a moment that plants this poisonous seed in Shuri prior. However, it's already there due to Thanos' Snap.
Black Panther 2's Shuri Was Destroyed by Thanos’ Snap
One has to remember that Shuri's dad (King T'Chaka) got killed by Baron Zemo, and then Falcon and Bucky tried to use the villain for help. Factor in how Infinity War also snapped her and T'Challa away, and there's a lot of heft, tragedy and pain to mine, even after they came back. Wakanda Forever, obviously due to Chadwick Boseman's passing, doesn't show how they coped in the wake of this, especially as the king gets ill right after. But the impact of these deaths weighs heavily on Shuri. And sadly, she doesn't have time to digest anything as life keeps dealing blows to her and her mother.
And a lot was due to external forces and folks -- across the galaxy -- keeping secrets, like the Infinity Stones. Simply put, the meddling and scheming of others enabled the Mad Titan to perform this Snap right when T'Chaka's children were recovering and forging a future. Thus, for Shuri to be revived and then move right into her brother's tragedy, it's understandable she'd resent the outside world, especially one that keeps seeing Wakanda as a threat or a convenient ally. Ultimately, this shapes Thanos' invasion and the Snap as the combined domino that really broke Shuri, as she finally saw how much tragedy her family could endure.
To see Shuri walk a dark path, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is now playing in theaters.