Black Panther Outfits

The film features not one, but three Black Panther costumes. The first was apparently built by T’Challa himself, and is made of vibranium. As fans saw in Captain America: Civil War, it’s effectively bulletproof; the kinetic energy of bullets is absorbed into it, rendering T’Challa immune from harm.

In Shuri’s view, of course, this armor is nothing more than a relic. She’s created a vibranium costume that is constructed of nanotechnology. The nanobots are stored within T’Challa’s necklace while dormant; when he triggers them, they weave across his body, forming the distinctive new suit. Meanwhile, Shuri has gone one step further in her handling of vibranium. Where the traditional Black Panther costume could absorb the energy of attacks, Shuri has worked out how to control that energy’s release. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; traditionally, vibranium simply absorbs that energy into itself, until the potential energy becomes too great and it is released in a devastating blast. Shuri has learned how to control that blast. It means that any attack on T’Challa effectively builds up his suit’s kinetic charge until it reaches maximum - and he releases it in a stunning, radial blast.

The concept is clearly inspired by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze, who dreamed up the concept in order to make vibranium work within the confines of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. In the MCU, though, it’s only one of Shuri’s coolest concepts. Unfortunately for Wakanda, Killmonger soon dons a duplicate suit, one with more ostentatious gold details.

“Sneakers”

Forget the suits: Shuri’s proudest creation are her so-called “Sneakers.” As with T’Challa’s armor, these are composed of nanotechnology, and form around the Panther’s feet. The vibranium absorbs all sound around them, essentially meaning they’re absolutely silent. The “Sneakers” are the ultimate spy gear, a way of moving around without your footsteps making a sound. It’s worth noting they’ll also be shock absorbent, meaning they cushion the feet and joints. That’s perfect for running at speed.

Localized EMP Discs

One of Black Panther’s most intriguing weapons is a small localized EMP disc. These are tremendously effective tools, and both shut down vehicles and render communications inoperative. We first see them in the opening fight scene, with T’Challa tossing one onto car engines; the disc appears to adhere to the car’s surface magnetically, and likely uses some form of flux compression system. Black Panther uses them to strand his targets, and neutralize them without their being able to call for reinforcements.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of these discs is the short range of the EMP. In the real world, although non-nuclear EMPs generally have a smaller range, it’s nothing like this kind of scale. Wakanda has effectively micro-engineered a technology that’s one step beyond modern science.

Sonic Weapons

The film features two sets of sonic weapons: Klaue’s prosthetic hand, and Shuri’s “kitten’s claws.” Klaue’s is undoubtedly the most dangerous; it’s actually a piece of Wakandan mining technology, powered - of course - by vibranium. Given the weapon was designed to work on the Great Mound, it’s no surprise that this sonic cannon can project frequencies that destabilize vibranium.

Shuri, as always, has taken this to the next level. She’s created twin gauntlets, and they’re as much a work of art as they are a technological marvel. These beautiful weapons can project powerful sonic blasts in their own right, although they seem to lack the sheer raw power of Klaue’s cannon.

Vibranium Weapons

The film features two main types of vibranium weapon. The first is Okoye’s retractable staff, which she wields with phenomenal skill. In one scene, she tosses it straight through a car; it lands in the road in front of the vehicle. When the car strikes it, the vehicle’s kinetic energy is absorbed into the vibranium, and the car is trashed. This single scene gave a sense of just how powerful vibranium really is.

Nakia, meanwhile, wields glowing vibranium ring blades. These are razor-sharp, and also appear to generate an energy charge inside them. Given the ring blades are composed of vibranium, they’re quite lethal; the reason for the energy charge was unclear.

Kimoyo Beads

In 2016, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and artist Brian Stelfreeze launched the latest Black Panther comic. It’s proved to be a tremendous success, and the movie draws on a lot of the finer details from this run. Perhaps the most notable are the Kimoyo beads, used effectively out in the field. Stelfreeze imagined Wakandans wearing a bracelet of these beads, each of which serve a different function. Different people wear specific beads suited to their needs and professions; so Nakia, for example, wears Kimoyo beads that can scan a person’s vitals, or be used to prevent them bleeding out.

It’s worth noting that there’s one crucial difference between the Kimoyo beads of the comics and the film. In the comics, Kimoyo beads are powered by the energy emitted from Wakanda’s vibranium; they actually don’t work outside the borders of Wakanda.

Solid Light And Force-Fields

At first glance, Wakanda seems to have mastered the classic sci-fi trope of “hard light” (sometimes inaccurately referred to as holograms). Shuri’s lab contains a sophisticated hologram-generator as part of her remote driving/piloting system, and it’s only one step away from the X-Men’s Danger Room or Star Trek’s Holodeck. More intriguingly, Wakandan warriors carry what seems to be light shields. It’s not sure quite how this works, even on in-universe logic, but the most likely explanation is that it’s a combination of holograms and ultrasonics. Sound waves can be modulated to create a physical force, and vibranium allows precise manipulation of ultrasonic frequencies. In the comics, this ability has traditionally been associated with Klaue.

Cloaking Technology

The nation of Wakanda is concealed by possibly the most impressive cloaking technology ever seen. Presumably powered by vibranium, this cloak literally hides an entire nation. It doesn’t just cover the cities; note that Wakandans fly their craft within Wakandan borders, without the rest of the world spotting them. Given the sheer number of orbital satellites that monitor the African continent, that’s a phenomenal achievement. It suggests that Wakanda’s “cloak” hides light emissions, thermal signatures, even localized microclimates that build up around cities. Even better, it must generate false readings for all these factors. Otherwise, scientists would have noticed an anomaly.

Although many of Wakanda’s technological marvels can be ascribed to Shuri, the cloaking technology clearly predates her. The US actually began working on remote sensing satellites as far back as 1956. Although these early satellites were dedicated to monitoring the USSR, it wouldn’t take long for similar technology to be deployed across the globe. Wakanda’s cloak was clearly in place before any satellites passed overhead, although it’s possibly been updated in advance of developments in remote sensing.

Presumably the same cloaking technology is used to conceal Wakandan craft when they travel outside their nation’s borders. In Captain America: Civil War, T’Challa was able to follow even Tony Stark without fear of detection.

Communications

Perhaps the most intriguing detail in the film is the fact that Wakandans can communicate with ease from across the globe. These transmissions can incorporate massive amounts of data. In one key scene, Shuri - based in her Wakandan lab - was able to drive T’Challa’s car in South Korea. Remarkably, there was absolutely no evidence of a lag in the transmission.

It seems likely Wakanda has planted a network of satellites in orbit around the Earth, and use these to transmit their own signals. These missions were presumably cloaked, and so never detected by the rest of the world.

Magnetic Propulsion

When Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the Black Panther and Wakanda back in 1966, they decided that Wakandan vehicles would be powered by magnetic technology. That has remained true in the comics, and Black Panther has honored it as well. The three types of Wakandan aircraft in Black Panther - the Talon Fighter, the Dragonflies, and the Royal Talon Fighter - all fly by use of magnetic propulsion. Cool as it looks, this is reserved mainly in the realm of science-fiction, but has seen limited applications in the real world. Naturally, Wakandan technology is a lot further ahead than anything in the real world, and the vessels are tremendously maneuverable.

Wakanda also use magnetics to power a high-speed train system, visually inspired by California’s BART system. This uses maglev trains, and is similar to the systems seen in Japan, South Korea, and China. In the real world, maglev trains are generally considered too expensive in most countries for practical use. Wakanda, however, has clearly overcome this problem. While maglev trains have the potential for greater speed, their greatest challenge is overcoming drag, which is usually responsible for the bulk of a maglev system’s energy consumption. Wakanda seems to have overcome that problem, although interestingly this is one technology that probably doesn’t depend on vibranium too much.

Shuri revealed that, when vibranium is transported at high speeds, it becomes dangerously unstable. She designed technology to effectively “power down” vibranium during transport (which proved to be a major plot point in the movie). This seems to work by transmitting a loop of energy (possibly ionic, possibly ultrasonic) between two transmitters. The energy creates a field in which the vibranium is destabilized.

MORE: Black Panther Review: Hail to the Wakandan King

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