Please note, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is rated PG-13. Before they go in for the final battle, Nakia approaches Shuri, sensing her hurt after her experience with the heart-shaped herb and the Ancestral Plane. She tells Shuri she can't let her feeling for vengeance consume her. This is one of the things that helps bring Shuri around in the end. Nakia is acting as a mentor to Shuri in this moment, which is what Shuri needs. Interestingly enough, Nakia is not the only one to provide mentorship to those who will go on to do great things. We see this in Scripture as well with the following:
We all need powerful mentors, as Nakia is being to Shuri. After all, it's in the Bible!
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Please note, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is rated PG-13. As is probably obvious already, Namor is one of my least favorite Marvel characters. He is the kind of person who needs to change, yet frustratingly stubbornly refuses to even recognize that need. It’s what keeps him squarely in the villain category and out of the “hero” category as a classic anti-hero in my book. Wakanda Forever got real close to changing my mind though. This version of Namor possess haughtiness derived less from royalty and more from the desire to protect his people. It makes him more sympathetic as a whole. More importantly, when his back is to the wall with Shuri, he does something his comic counterpart would die before doing. He yields. This made me think that maybe this Namor can change, and in doing so become better. Then the final scene with him and one of his people came up. In that scene, one of his warriors is confused and asks why Namor gave in. Namor doesn’t talk about how Shuri convinced him. He doesn’t talk about seeing the error of his ways. While he admits he was defeated, he says that Shuri spared him only because she know she needs him and that together they and the Wakandans will eventually have to conquer the surface world. If you stubbornly hold on to being right all the time, you are wrong. That is what our Faith teaches. We are ones who are at fault, and God in our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who corrects us. As it is written in 1 John 1:8, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Namor was so close and just missed the prize. Hopefully the same will not be true for us. Please note, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is rated PG-13. In Genesis 3, the serpent is the creature that tempts Adam and Eve, leading to their Fall from Grace and from the Garden of Eden. Shuri, in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has two such characters. One is Namor and the other is Killmonger. It's worth noting that Namor even goes by the title K'uk'ulkan, the name of an ancient Mayan serpent deity, which is poetic in his role with Shuri and showcases his people's respect for him as well as his own arrogance. Namor wants to lure Shuri into an alliance against the Surface World. This goes against Shuri's nature as a peacemaker, though. When that doesn't work, Namor, in a roundabout way, tempts Shuri to embrace revenge by attacking her people and killing her mother. It almost works too, until Shuri remembers who she is and shows mercy on him. Killmonger also acts as a tempter for Shuri when they meet on the Ancestral Plane. While he puts down her father, he does admit that her brother was noble, and he shows admiration for her mother's sacrifice for Riri. He then puts forward his way as one that "gets things done" and can thus give her the revenge she seeks against Namor. Again, this almost works until Shuri remembers who she is and shows mercy. Shuri is tempted by both her serpents. She almost falls into the darkness they want her to walk down. However, in the end she is able to overcome their temptations and move forward to being a good, merciful, and peaceful person as she was always meant to be. In this way, she is a great example to us all. Shuri does have help, from her friends and from her mother. We too have help. Our help is from the Lord. If we can take the time to stop and listen, like Shuri we too can overcome our serpents to be the kind of good, merciful, and peaceful people God wants us to be. |
Please note, there maybe Spoilers in the Posts below!
The Rev. Trey KennedyHere is my take on how Superheroes and other characters can help us know God better. Categories
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