The first trailers for Black Panther made it crystal clear that its female characters are much not damsels in distress. In fact, Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), Shuri (Letitia Wright), and Okoye (Danai Gurira) all appear to be real bad-ass women.
With so many strong female supporting characters sharing the spotlight, one might expect them to be in conflict with each other. However, Nyong'o told Teen Vogue that couldn’t be further from the truth in the upcoming Ryan Coogler flick.
The actress added that a healthy level of competition might exist among Black Panther’s Wakandan women, but they also respect and support each other:
Ryan made a point of avoiding the expected female-rival narrative. In this genre, where spandex is involved, oftentimes the women are pitted against each other. In our story, there are so many different women holding their own space. Women may be in competition with each other, sure, but that doesn't necessarily mean there's an absence of love or respect.
Nyong'o points out that Nakia is an “independent” woman, who’s also “super patriotic” and “very questioning of her society”. She’s a warrior in her own right, and has “a complicated history” that’s “kind of sexy” with Chadwick Boseman's titular superhero.
T'Challa’s sister Shuri oversees Wakanda's technological pursuits. While you might expect her to be at odds with Nakia, the characters actually get along quite well:
You see them work together, and you see a dynamic that is really encouraging. Making this film awakened me. I walked away from this experience feeling extremely supported, and I felt challenged.
