Black Panther is great, but did you really expect anything less from this film? It is hard ignore the social and cultural implications of Black Panther, but beyond all of that, it is easily one of the best Marvel films to date. There is so many things that the film got right. But there is one thing that doesn’t make it into the film, and Black Panther is better for it. Actually, this omission finally answers a big question about the MCU that fans were clamoring for.
Everything that follows is a potential SPOILER for the film.
The one thing that was left out of Black Panther is the Soul Stone. Fans theorized for months that the final Infinity Stone would show up in Wakanda, but it was a no-show. After the stone was missing from Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther, the only landing spot for it now is Avengers: Infinity War. The good news is that the film is only a few months away from dropping, so the wait will not be long.
In a recent interview with IGN, Black Panther co-writer and director Ryan Coogler talked about his decision to leave the powerful stone out of the film:
“I love the Infinity Stones as much as any comic book fan. It’s just Wakanda already has its thing, which is Vibranium. For us, that was special enough. So to throw in something like another special thing didn’t feel right. It felt like we should stick with our one MacGuffin for the country and explore that. Let that be the important thing because, frankly we didn’t need to have another piece like that. [Marvel Studios] never really was interested in putting a stone in there, either.”
Leaving the Soul Stone out of Black Panther leaves the door open for the Infinity Stone to show up in Avengers: Infinity War, or will it? Could Marvel throw us a final curve ball, and save the stone’s appearance for Avengers 4? Or will Infinity War be a race to the Soul Stone? It seems like either could happen. With few details from Infinity War anywhere in sight, fans may have to wait for any details until right before the film hits theaters.
