One Giant MCU Mystery Black Panther Still Doesn't Solve
Not even Wakanda holds all the answers...
Black Panther might well have changed the entire make-up of the MCU with the revelations of its final act, but it didn't do one thing that a lot of fans expected it to. It didn't provide one very specific answer that we've all been waiting for for years now.
But what did it leave out?
Obviously, SPOILERS follow. Turn back now unless you want to know the mystery.
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So, despite rumours that Wakanda was going to be the location of the so-far unrevealed Soul Stone, there's nothing in Black Panther that confirms as much, even with the perfect set-up.
Just as it looked like the theory that Heimdall was in possession of the Soul Stone in Thor: Ragnarok thanks to his unprecedented powers, it looked like Wakanda's mysterious Heart Shaped Herb (empowered by the country's stock of Vibranium, of course) offered an opportunity to bring the Stone in.
After all, in the case of every other Stone's reveal, they've been linked to another existing artifact or power in the MCU, and it would have fit that model to have the secret of the Vibranium meteorite be a Stone in its centre. However, Ryan Coogler chose not to devalue the sacred ore in his movie and for now, the location of the Soul Stone remains unconfirmed.
That's not to say that that won't be the case, as we know that Thanos' army is heading to Wakanda in Infinity War, but that has already been speculated to be in pursuit of Vision and the Mind Stone. Having another Stone simply coincidentally appear there might be a little too much to take, even if it's a strong narrative choice.
So where could the missing Stone be? We now don't have another Marvel movie to reveal where it is, unless it's going to be revealed in either Ant-Man & The Wasp or Captain Marvel. But the fact that both of those aren't actually being released in chronological sequence probably complicates matters too much for that to be the case.
Whatever the case, it still feels a little odd that the Stone hasn't been revealed - unless it is genuinely being hidden in plain sight. Because Infinity War is already going to have a LOT to fit in without having to reveal a Stone as well.
Presumably, there's a good plan to explain it all...