Or ‘never play chess with the devious b*****d that is Erik Killmonger.’
SPOILERS AHEAD
After the Marvel Logo and opening titles, we begin with the most detailed depiction of the Watcher yet—full body, clothes, and everything—as he introduces this episode’s premise: ‘every journey has a beginning, but one step along the way, and you could end up at a very different destination’.
We’re back in the territory of the very first Iron Man film, in Kunar Province in Afghanistan (and, in light of recent world events, that film’s social commentary sure takes on a whole new level of relevance), the beginning of Tony Stark’s journey and the MCU itself. As before, Tony’s military convoy is ambushed by the Ten Rings and Tony (Mick Wingert, who this time gets to flex his muscles a bit more, helped in part by the amount of brilliant one-liners he gets) gets uncomfortably up close and personal with one of his own weapons. But instead of the missile exploding—embedding his chest with shrapnel that would force him to develop a miniaturised arc reactor and, consequently, the first Iron Man armour—he’s saved by Lieutenant Erik “Killmonger” Stevens (Michael B. Jordan), who throws the missile away like it’s nothing and guns down the approaching Ten Rings reinforcements that were coming to kidnap Tony.
As the two of them walk away from the carnage, the Watcher tells us that ‘heroes are not born, they’re forged in darkness. Shaped in battle. Defined by sacrifice.’ Alongside this we see three iconic moments from MCU Tony’s timeline: him forging the Mark I armour, the famous “Avengers Assemble” shot, and his universe-saving sacrifice in Endgame. Without Tony’s capture in Afghanistan, Iron Man wouldn’t have been born; the man has been saved but the hero has been lost. We see this at the Stark Industries press conference—without his experience in Afghanistan to make him realise the need to pay attention to whose hands his weapons have ended up in and take accountability for what they’ve done, the lesson he takes instead is the need to ‘build bigger’ and ‘fight badder.’ And to that end, in return for saving his life, he makes Killmonger his new head of security, to the surprise of Pepper (Beth Hoyt) and Happy (Jon Favreau), the latter of which points out that that was supposed to be his promotion (though let’s face it Happy, you weren’t very good at it). Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb) asks Killmonger what he was doing in the Kunar Province, since at the time of the attack his unit were stationed 400 clicks away. Killmonger than reveals that he was on a deep cover operation inside the Ten Rings and uncovered plans to assassinate Tony. Obadiah Stane (voiced here by Kiff VandenHeuvel, who does a pretty good impression of Jeff Bridges) desperately tries to end the conference but Killmonger reveals that it was Stane who organised the hit, backed up with a plethora of evidence that he just dropped online. Stane tries to make a run for it but receives a very satisfying punch to the face from Happy.
We then cut to Tony’s Malibu mansion where Tony’s throwing a party to celebrate his return, enjoying a drink with Killmonger (Marvel didn’t allow Favreau to explore Tony Stark’s struggle with alcoholism in as much detail as he wanted to at the time—by adapting the famous “Demon in a Bottle” storyline—but it’s worth noting that this Tony drinks a lot more than MCU Tony). Tony feels he owes Killmonger his life and wants to make him his partner, telling him he needs a ‘killer’ on his side. They drink to their new partnership but Pepper Potts is a little more cautious about their ‘knight in shining camouflage’ and discreetly leaves the party to ask Colonel Rhodes (Don Cheadle, retroactively replacing Terrence Howard) what he’s managed to find out about him. Rhodey gives Pepper Kilmonger’s file, revealing that, like Tony, he’s skilled with technology and that since joining the SEALS he’s made a name for himself as part of an ‘elite ghost squad that specialises in high-target wetwork’ (i.e. assassinations). He asks Pepper what her concern is, other than the killing part, and Pepper replies that a lot of people come looking for their moment in the sun with Tony Stark and that it’s her job to sniff out what it is they want from him. Only this time she can’t find an angle, which concerns her because everyone wants something.
Tony then takes Killmonger to his workshop. Killmonger picks up a prototype weapon and asks ‘repulsor’ tech?’ Tony replies that he’s trying to miniaturise the Jericho—the missile he was demonstrating in Afghanistan – into a portable firearm. Killmonger then brings up Howard Stark’s philosophy of ‘peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy,’ to which Tony remarks that it didn’t do Howard a lot of good (referencing his parents’ deaths) and asks Killmonger whether he’s close with his father. Killmonger replies that his father is also dead, killed by gang violence, which both we and Killmonger know is a lie (as in Black Panther we find out he was murdered King T’Chaka) but manages to ingratiate himself with Tony further by preying upon his daddy issues. Tony says ‘weapons in the wrong hands. Wish no one had to fire them at all’ and Killmonger mentions that in his MIT doctoral thesis he developed plans for an automated combat drone but that he could never crack the interface. Tony is excited by this and, wanting to return the favour for saving his life, offers to help build them. (This leads to a funny moment when Tony has Jarvis bring up the design for Killmonger’s ‘Liberator’ drone from the MIT doctoral thesis database and comments on the design choice – which looks very similar to a well-known mecha franchise—Killmonger replying that he likes anime – a reference to the fact that Michael B. Jordan is a huge anime fan, reportedly basing Killmonger’s costume on Vegeta from Dragonball Z—and Tony says ‘worst case scenario, we’ll end up with the world’s most expensive Gundam model.’)
We then get a montage of Tony and Killmonger building and testing We then get a montage of Tony and Killmonger building and testing the drone, similar to the montage we got in Iron Man when Tony was building his Mark II armour. The operations test proves unsuccessful and JARVIS (Paul Bettany) says that the drone’s regulating processor is overclocked, meaning they need another power source. Tony briefly contemplates the idea of miniaturising an arc reactor before dismissing it. Killmonger says what they need is Vibranium—as with the right power it can act as a self-sustaining energy source—but Tony points out that Howard used up all he had during the war. Killmonger then shows him his (father’s) vibranium ring, revealing that vibranium items pop up all over the globe on the black market, you just have to have the right contact. Tony says he may have just the guy: Ulysses Klaue
Unsurprisingly, Pepper is not enthusiastic about the idea of fraternising with a black market arms dealer and tries to dissuade Tony. To her surprise, Killmonger agrees with her, pointing out that it would be company PR if things went south and that they need to secure diplomatic cover. Tony gets the idea to send Rhodey, as he’s both US Air Force and the company’s military liaison,.
We then cut to the salvage yard on the African coast, where Rhodey meets with Klaue (Andy Serkis, who chews the scenery with great gusto), with Killmonger listening in over Rhodey’s comm. The deal is interrupted however by Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) who takes down Klaue’s men (Klaue himself having melted into the shadows and Killmonger being suspiciously quiet). T’Challa tells Rhodey that his quarrel is not with him and asks him to let him take the vibranium back to where it belongs. But then Killmonger takes them both down with a Stark-tech sonic taser (an earlier version of which Stane used on Tony in Iron Man) before using it to kill T’Challa (which obviously now hits a lot harder than I’m guessing anyone thought it would when the show was still being made). Rhodey asks why and Killmonger answers with a question of his own: ‘why wear the uniform of your own oppressors? Fight for them? Die for them?’ Rhodey argues that you’ve got to be a part of the system in order to be able to change it but Killmonger disagrees, ripping off the American flag from Rhodey’s uniform and killing him, before putting the sonic taser in his hand, making it look as if Rhodey killed T’Challa and implicating Stark in his murder. Klaue reappears and it’s revealed this was set-up between the two of them from the beginning, Klaue leaking news of the sale in order to lure T’Challa to them.
T’Challa and Rhodey’s bodies are brought home (the Wakandan script on T’Challa’s coffin spelling out ‘Wakanda Forever,’ in another fitting tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman). We then cut to news footage of T’Chaka at the UN—as the headline reads ‘U.S. Military, Stark Industries implicated in death of Wakandan Prince’—saying that they will not sit idly by while their resources are pillaged and their people killed by American Imperialists. We then see it’s Tony watching the news, as Killmonger arrives carrying the Dora Milaje spear, which he jokingly offers as a souvenir. But it turns out that, while Killmonger saw to fact that it was Tony’s name on the paper trail, through JARVIS, Tony saw that it was Killmonger who murdered Rhodey and he wants justice. The room locks down and the fully functioning Liberator drone appears, as Tony melted down his vibranium ring to get it to work. Killmonger goes toe to toe with the drone, only for him to get thrown across the room, Tony reminding him that Killmonger programmed the drone with his moves. Killmonger says he’ll have ‘to freestyle it.’ He dodges the drone and gets his hands on the spear (his shirt getting ripped off in the process, exposing his scars that tally the amount of confirmed kills he’s racked up) and using it to get the upper hand, disabling the drone and hurling it at Tony, pinning him to the wall through his shoulder and causing his glass of whiskey to fall to the floor and shatter. Tony tells him that, for a moment, he really thought that it was them against the world but Killmonger replies that they aren’t fighting the same battles. Tony then says ‘two gear-head orphans trying to do right by their fathers? We sound the same to me.’ But Killmonger replies that ‘the difference between you and me… is that you can’t see the difference between you and me,’ pushing the spear in further and killing Tony.
The Watcher looks on, his eyes transitioning into the flashing of a crime-scene investigator’s camera. General Ross (Mike McGill) concludes that Tony’s murder was a hit job by the Wakandans. Happy asks how no footage was captured on security, to which Pepper replies that JARVIS was conveniently wiped clean, looking to Killmonger as she says this, whom she clearly still doesn’t trust—as she says, ‘three murders in two days and one man at the center.’ Ross sticks up for Killmonger though as he’s still a highly decorated Naval officer, ordering that the Liberator drones be put into production and telling Pepper and Happy that the U.S. Military is seizing control of all Stark Industries assets (something MCU Tony worked so hard to avoid) and that they now work for him.
The drones are put into mass production and flown to Africa with Killmonger. He’s met by Klaue who’s glad to see that his vibranium has been put to ‘good use.’ He then takes Killmonger to the edge of the Wakandan force shield. Killmonger is pleased to have finally found Wakanda but Klaue tells him they need to leave before they find themselves at the wrong end of a spear, derisively calling them ‘savages.’ Killmonger echoes his words of a few seconds earlier—‘Wakandans are full of surprises’ – and shoots Klaue point blank.
We then cut to inside the force shield, as Killmonger, carrying Klaue’s body, approaches a line of Dora Milaje. He tells them he has brought Klaue as an offering of justice, introducing himself as N’Jadaka, son of Prince N’Jobu, and revealing his Wakandan lip tattoo. He’s then brought before the royal family. Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett) is incredulous at his very existence and Shuri (Ozioma Akagha) points out that they’re at war and Killmonger is still an American soldier. Killmonger says that the Wakandans are his people too and that at he brought them the man who stole their vibranium as proof of his loyalty to them. T’Chaka (John Kani) warms up to him (obviously under the impression that Killmonger is unaware of the exact circumstances of his father’s death), especially after Killmonger tells him that his father told him stories about watching the sunset from top of Mount Bashenga with his brother. We then see a shot of the drones approaching as Killmonger explains that, like their weapons, they’re made of vibranium alloy and virtually indestructible. Okoye (Danai Gurira) is dismissive, since Americans built them, but Shuri argues it won’t be so easy, pointing out that the drones operate via a hive matrix, communicating with each other in real time to maximise strategic efficiency. Ramonda asks how they cut the drones off from their network and Killmonger answers that they let them inside the force shields. Shuri is incredulous but Killmonger says it’s the only way to disconnect them from JARVIS, as the electromagnetic interference will block their satellite uplink. After that, they destroy them and the Americans won’t have any vibranium left to rebuild. Shuri asks why they should trust him with their people’s lives and he replies that he knows what it’s like to have someone taken from him, and that if he had a chance to avenge his father, he wouldn’t hesitate, appealing to (or preying on) their grief for T’Challa.
We learn that Ramonda is a general of the Wakandan army, and the next shot we see is of her, in full regalia, outside the palace with the army behind her, ready to take revenge on the people she believes are responsible for the death of her son. They see the lights of the drones approaching in the distance. Even now, Shuri is still suspicious of Killmonger but her father reiterates that he’s family and orders the shields opened, revealing the truth of Wakanda to Ross and those watching back at the drone command centre in Nevada. Once the drones are inside the shields are closed again and they all shut down, proving Killmonger right. But before they can celebrate, Killmonger secretly reactivates the drones, saying that Tony must have built a backup transmitter, as he was a villain who didn’t trust anyone (has anybody else’s irony-meter exploded?). The Wakandan army goes into battle, their vibranium weaponry enabling them to take the drones on at close quarters. Killmonger himself even joins the fight, riding in on a rhino and arriving in time to save Okoye, earning her and Ramonda’s approval in the process. In the end, the Wakandans are victorious.
It then cuts to Mount Bashenga, where Killmonger stands in victory (an inversion of the scene in Black Panther where he was slumped in defeat) watching the sunset. T’Chaka asks him if it meets his expectations and Killmonger replies that it surpasses them. He asks T’Chaka to let him be of service to Wakanda and his uncle gives him the herb that will allow him to become the next Black Panther. He takes it and arrives on the ancestral plane, where he meets T’Challa and they talk.
Back in America, the military are preparing to continue the war with Wakanda with Jericho missiles, invoking Tony Stark—with a poster that reads ‘only you can avenge Tony Stark—the same way the Wakandans did with T’Challa. Pepper asks whether that isn’t a lot of firepower to aim at ‘a country most Americans can’t find on a map.’ Ross merely replies that by tomorrow they won’t need to. Pepper then goes back to her office only to find Shuri there. She tells Pepper that she’s here to help, showing her the evidence that confirms Pepper’s suspicions that it was Killmonger who murdered Tony, as well as T’Challa. Shuri says that it appears that they have a common enemy. Pepper agrees but points out that both sides refuse to see it, Shuri’s solution for which is for the two of them to work together to reveal the truth.
The Watcher then ends with the assertion that ‘heroes are never really gone. They live forever. As do the ones they inspire to carry on the fight.’
