Wakanda Forever Makes Black Panther’s Princess Leia Easter Egg Way Deeper

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Shuri’s journey in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has made the Star Wars Easter egg in Black Panther much deeper. The newest Marvel film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, mainly focuses on Princess Shuri and her dealing with the loss of her brother T’Challla. The film deals with Shuri’s grief wonderfully and respectfully, but it also shows that Shuri is quite similar to another Princess owned by Disney: Princess Leia.

Shuri and Leia have a lot in common. Both are princesses who fight for what they believe in and are highly intelligent. They both have complex family dynamics, particularly with their brothers, and both experience tragic losses at a young age. The connection between the two princesses started back in the first movie, and now that Shuri is the new Black Panther after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it has grown yet stronger. Shuri’s connection to the Star Wars protagonist will likely only become deeper as well, as the two princesses are now forever linked to one another through their personalities, tragedies, and their legacies.

Related: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s MCU Easter Eggs & Marvel References

Shuri Was Introduced With Princess Leia Buns

Shuri is first introduced into the MCU in Black Panther when T’Challa returns home with his love Nakia for his upcoming coronation. As Shuri and Queen Ramonda welcome T’Challa home, Shuri is seen with Princess Leia’s iconic buns hairstyle. This was a small Disney Easter egg for the film, associating a new character with another intelligent princess. Princess Leia’s hair buns are synonymous with the character, as she was first introduced into the Star Wars universe with this hairstyle. Shuri sporting the same hairstyle in her first introduction is only the beginning of their similarities.

Similar to Leia, Shuri works together with her heroic brother to save people. For Leia, this is working with Luke Skywalker for the Resistance to save the universe – and for Shuri, this is building T’Challa a suit and weapons to help him as the Black Panther to defeat villains who threaten the safety of Wakanda. They also have similar personalities with their quick wit, extreme empathy for others, and their tendency to react first and ask questions later, particularly when angered. However, while the parallels between these two characters initially started as a small Easter egg, Wakanda Forever has made it go much deeper.

Shuri’s Losses Mirror Leia’s Losses

Both Shuri and Leia have experienced tremendous losses. Shuri is still very young in Wakanda Forever and has barely been able to work past the loss of T’Challa when her mother is killed in Namor’s attack on Wakanda. With her father having been killed in Captain America: Civil War, this leaves Shuri the only member of her family left, and she is completely alone. With this loss, Shuri has to take on more of a leadership role in the fight against Talokan and rely on her friends and allies as opposed to her family.

This is quite similar to what Princess Leia experienced. Also at a young age, Leia witnessed the destruction of her entire planet, killing all the citizens she had sworn to protect along with her adoptive parents. As her birth parents were either dead or turned Sith, and she didn’t know about Luke at the time, she was also left all alone. Leia was both a princess and a senator at a young age, showing that – similar to Shuri – she had to take on a bigger responsibility despite still being a young woman.

Related: Why Shuri Sees That Character On The Ancestral Plane

Shuri And Leia’s Dark Sides Are Tested

Both Leia and Shuri, while dealing with their grief, have had to deal with giving in to a darker temptation. In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Shuri shares that she wishes she could burn the world rather than deal with the grief over losing her brother. Later, when she goes to the Ancestral Plane and meets Killmonger, she is taken in by the temptation to follow through on her dark wishes. However, when faced with killing Namor after their battle, she chooses to be more like her brother and spares the man who killed her mother.

Similarly, there are theories that Leia tapped into the Dark Side in Return of the Jedi. When Leia is the prisoner of Jabba the Hut and later escapes, she uses unbelievable strength to kill the monster holding her captive. As it is later confirmed that Leia does have the Force and trained as a Jedi, she likely tapped into the Force to overpower her captor. However, Leia is the Skywalker most synonymous with the light side of the Force, and even was willing to believe there was still good in her son Kylo Ren who had given in to the dark side. Like Shuri, she was tempted by darkness, but ultimately overcame it.

Both Shuri and Leia Are Princesses Turned Warriors

With Shuri becoming the new Black Panther, she continues to follow in Princess Leia’s footsteps by being a Princess turned Warrior. Before M’Baku seemingly becomes the new King of Wakanda at the end of Wakanda Forever, Shuri takes her role as Princess of Wakanda much more seriously. She uses her resources and intelligence to track down Riri Williams and also attempts peaceful negotiations with Namor. However, when the time for battle comes, Shuri takes up the mantle of the Black Panther, leads the Wakandan army, and bests Namor in their final battle.

Princess Leia originated this journey in both the original and the sequel trilogies of Star Wars. While she started as the Princess of Alderon, Leia’s planet was destroyed by Darth Vader, rendering her title all but meaningless. While the Resistance still honored her with the title, Leia proved she was also a warrior by fighting alongside her fellow Rebels. Later on, in The Force Awakens, Leia is still fighting with the Rebels but is now referred to as General Leia. Princess Leia changed a lot over the years, but she always remained a fighter. By holding the titles of Princess and General, she set the stage for female characters to be both royalty and warriors, something Shuri certainly took on as well.

Related: How Did Shuri Survive That Brutal Namor Moment?!

With Disney owning both Star Wars and the MCU, it’s unsurprising that there would be a strong similarity between these two characters. Both Shuri and Leia demonstrate two well-written female characters that are quite similar, but can still go on separate journeys in different stories and be seen as two different characters, rather than one being a carbon copy. Princess Leia’s Star Wars journey paved the way for many incredible warrior Princesses, and Shuri’s story in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is only beginning.

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