How Old Was Shuri in ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’?

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the 30th movie set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it served as the conclusion of the franchise’s Phase 4. The fans already know that the lead star of the original Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman passed away in August 2020. Writer/director Ryan Coogler was asked to rewrite the sequel so that it could still fit the franchise’s narrative since Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced that the studio isn’t interested in recasting the role of T’Challa. Last November, we witnessed something that we had already suspected before the movie’s release; T’Challa died at the beginning of the movie, and after an emotional farewell to Wakanda’s great king and hero, his sister Shuri eventually became his took up his mantle as the next Black Panther. In the original Black Panther movie, we met Shuri as T’Challa’s genius and very likable younger sister. While we know that Shuri is younger than T’Challa, there’s still a question of how old she is in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

While Shuri’s precise date of birth is unknown, 1998 is listed as the year of her birth. Although released in 2018, the original Black Panther movie took place in 2016, shortly after the events of Captain America: Civil War. So, Shuri was around 18 years old when we first met her. Considering that she was a victim of Thanos’ snap in Avengers: Infinity War when she was 20, she didn’t age five years during the time jump in Avengers: Endgame, so she was technically still 20 in 2023 when Endgame took place. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever takes place in 2025, when Shuri is supposed to be around 22 years old, give or take a year.

The timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is pretty hard to make clear. It is definitely known that Avengers: Endgame created a five-year gap between Avengers: Infinity War and itself, meaning that almost everything we watched in Phase 4 (apart from Black Widow and Loki) happened in 2023 or later.

Shuri has appeared in four MCU movies: Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Of course, we are expected to see more of her since her journey as the protector of Wakanda has barely started. So far, there’s been no official word on potential Black Panther 3. However, we expect that Black Panther and the people of Wakanda will be involved in the storylines of the upcoming crossover movies Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.

How old was Shuri in the original Black Panther movie and later Avengers movies?

The character of Black Panther was introduced into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War, in which the late Chadwick Boseman played Prince T’Challa, son of King T’Chaka, who died in the explosion of the UN in Vienna. T’Challa was introduced as heir to the throne of Wakanda, who sought justice for his father, and his solo movie Black Panther, which was released in 2018, introduced us to the rest of the royal family of Wakanda.

When T’Challa returned to Wakanda in his own movie, the audience had the chance to meet his mother, Queen Ramonda, and his sister Shuri, who quickly became one of the most likable characters that the fans have met in the franchise. Shuri was introduced as a young girl with a genius intellect and incredible engineering skills who developed and supplied her brother with various technical equipment, from suits to various gadgets.

Although Nate Moore said that Shuri was 16 years old during the events of the original Black Panther, several sources say otherwise. Actress Letitia Wright said that Shuri was 18 years old in the first film, which was later confirmed in the film’s novelization. It’s quite problematic to determine her exact age since MCU timelines can be quite messed up, but regardless, the changes between the sources aren’t that great.

The second appearance of Shuri in the MCU was in Avengers: Infinity War which was released in 2018 and took place during that same year. Using simple math, we can say that Shuri is two years older in Infinity War than she was in Black Panther, meaning that she was 20 years old during the Battle of Wakanda when Thanos’ forces attacked to get the Mind Stone from Vision.

Although her death wasn’t shown in Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame confirmed that Shuri didn’t survive Thanos’ snap. Following the five-year time jump, Shuri was resurrected, and as Spider-Man: Far From Home later explained, everyone who died in the snap and later returned is still the same age as they were when the snap happened. Therefore, Shuri was still 20 during the Battle of Earth.

When does Black Panther: Wakanda Forever take place? How old is Shuri there?

As we know, the final battle against Thanos occurred in 2023. From the information we gathered, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever starts sometime after Avengers: Endgame when it was already 2024. At the movie’s beginning, the fans witnessed T’Challa’s off-screen death and funeral. The main plot of Wakanda Forever starts one year after T’Challa’s death in 2025.

Therefore, if Shuri was born in 1998, in 2025, she should be 27 years old. But we still need to take away those five years while she was “dead,” and we conclude that Shuri is 22 years old at the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, when she officially took up her brother’s mantle and became the next Black Panther.

When we could potentially see Shuri in the MCU again?

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever received positive reviews from critics and fans, was nominated for five Academy Awards, and was a box-office success. Even though it earned far less than the original movie, this sequel was still successful enough that it wouldn’t be surprising if Marvel Studios puts the potential Black Panther 3 on their schedule eventually in the future. Shuri’s story as Black Panther has barely begun, and Wakanda Forever opened a lot of ways where the story could go not only in the potential threequel but also in the upcoming crossover movies. We don’t know anything officially yet, but it’s safe to say that we haven’t seen the last of Shuri’s Black Panther in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.