How Did Shuri Survive Being Impaled by Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever?

WARNING: This article contains major, crucial spoilers for the MCU movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. If you haven’t seen the movie yet and don’t want it spoiled, stop reading now.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever somewhat divided audiences but was overall an impressive way to finish the movie part of Phase 4 in style. Those who were more critical of the film pointed out a few head-scratching moments, like Shuri surviving getting impaled by Namor’s raw-vibranium spear. So, how did Shuri survive the fight with Namor?

Shuri survived being impaled by Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever due to her newfound powers after drinking the synthetic Heart-Shaped Herb and becoming the new Black Panther. Her suit also helped close the wounds, while her rage helped with the pain tolerance.

In fact, there’s a clear-cut scene depicting each of those elements, subtly explaining how the brilliant, young, new leader of Wakanda could survive such brutal punishment. If you want to hear more about Shuri’s Black Panther, keep reading this article.

What happened to Shuri in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever?

Before we dive into theories and explanations, let’s briefly break down what actually happened to Shuri near the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

After Namor killed Queen Ramonda and left Shuri with no living family members, she was completely taken over by grief, rage, and lust for vengeance. She uses a bracelet that Namor gave her, which contains the fibers of a herb growing on vibranium-rich soil, and manages to use the fibers and T’Challa’s DNA to synthetically recreate the Heart-Shaped Herb.

Shuri gains the powers of the Black Panther, puts on the vibranium suit, and goes to battle with Namor. She dries him out and takes him to the desert, knowing it’ll weaken the Sub-Mariner. He is still an absolute powerhouse, though, and he manages to impale Shuri through her suit with a  broken raw-vibranium spear.

It seems all hope is lost as Namor slowly walks toward the ocean to heal. However, Shuri summons the strength to pull herself off the spear through searing pain and blow up Namor’s back with explosives, rendering him completely dry and on the brink of death.

In the last moments, however, she realizes that ‘vengeance consumed us’ and chooses to spare Namor’s life in exchange for peace. It was an epic moment, but it left half of the fans wondering, how in the world did Shuri survive that brutal beating? Well, there’s actually more than one reason.

How did Shuri survive being impaled by Namor?

Heart-Shaped Herb

After successfully recreating the Heart-Shaped Herb, Shuri actually became the Black Panther – and gained all the epic superpowers that come with it. We see it momentarily after she wakes up when she punches an armor, and it flies across the lab, slamming into a wall.

In the comics, and, if you remember, in the MCU, Black Panther always had the ability to heal more rapidly than normal people. His healing factor is not nearly as potent as Wolverine’s or even Namor’s when he’s in the water. Black Panther is still human, but it allows T’Challa, and Shuri, to survive more devastating injuries.

That would be a part of the explanation of how Shuri could survive such a fatal wound. However, even if she heals fast, without proper treatment, you would bleed out from such an injury, right? Especially considering that it was no ordinary wound – it was created with Namor’s spear made out of raw vibranium. Well, that’s where the technology kicks in.

Black Panther suit

So, Shuri is impaled on a rock with a raw vibranium spear, and Namor is almost in the water, where he’d heal completely. It looks like Game Over for Wakanda, but Shuri summons the strength to pull herself from the spear and go after Namor. How didn’t she bleed out?

It’s actually shown in the movie if you look closely. As Shuri pulls herself off of the spear, the insanely high-tech Black Panther suit rapidly closes the wound almost instantly, stopping Shuri from bleeding out and allowing her Black Panther powers to kick in and heal the wound faster.

If you remember, the same thing already happened in the MCU, but to Iron Man. In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos impales Tony Stark through the abdomen on Titan. When Iron Man pulls it out, he quickly uses his suit’s technology to close the wounds. They don’t heal that fast, but it stops the bleeding, and Tony survives the death blow.

Rage & revenge

All that still doesn’t explain how Shuri – a non-experienced, non-trained warrior – could muster the strength to literally pull herself off of a spear, impaling her through the abdomen and out the back. Well, it’s somewhat explained moments after when Shuri has Namor on the ground, and she’s thinking about killing him on the spot.

That’s when she realizes how consumed she is with rage and revenge. She wanted it so badly that it helped her fight through the excruciating pain just to get Namor and make him beg for mercy. In the end, Shuri spares Namor and shows what kind of person she is. She is the Black Panther, much more like her late brother than she ever thought.

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