Quote Originally Posted by taozen View Post
I totally did not miss that scene. And guess what? That is a clear character arc. Did T'Challa have a clear arc in BP? Is his arc just breaking with Wakanda tradition and not remain hidden? I do not think he stated that he was against Wakanda's coming out of hiding. He just says it has not been the Wakandan way. That is why I said in a earlier post that he is a cypher for Wakanda. A more defined arc would have been him being totally against Wakanda and remaining with tradition and then changing his mind. Usually movies have a plot arch and the protagonist has a character arc. That defining arc does not happen with T'Challa?
I'm starting to question if you saw the movie. His arc can be summarized as him stepping out of his father's shadow and becomes his own man/king to do what's best for Wakanda. Or better yet, T'Chaka's quote: "You're a good man, with a good heart, and it's hard for a good man to be king." Which perfectly summarizes T'Challa.

The first time T'Challa rejects breaking from tradition is when he's speaking with Nakia and he asks her opinion on what she thinks they should do to help the outside world. However, since the first time Wakanda reached out 11 Wakandans died and his father killed, then there's the possibility that their way of life could be ruined. So he refuses.

But that wasn't it for him because he's conflicted. Earlier he realized the good they could do when they saved the women from the traffickers. So he goes to someone else he trust, W'Kabi. He rejects W'Kabi's proposal because it isn't their way to wage war.

A huge moment comes when he decides to bring Ross to Wakanda for help. Okoye, his father, and likely ever other traditionalist would've left Ross to die. Okoye tries to remind him that he's king but he interrupts her and let her know that he's aware of his job but he can't let a good man like Ross die when they can save him especially after Ross risked his life to save Nakia.

The next huge moment which is IMO the most important part of his arc and best part of the movie is when he learned the truth from Zuri. He is left visibly shaken to his core. He modeled himself after his father and planned to rule just like he did only to find out that his father wasn't the man he thought he was. It was because of this moment Killmonger was able to win during the challenge.

His arc came full circle when he confronted his father and ancestors, the people he looked up to, and told them they were all wrong. That the tradition that they followed and shackled them were wrong and that he will not rest until he undoes Wakanda's past sins by starting with the monster they created, Killmonger because it's their fault he turned out like that. T'Challa realized the type of king he wanted to be and it wasn't the one that T'Chaka was anymore.

He had a clear arc in CW but it lacked depth until his scene with Zemo. If it did we would've had a moment where he questioned what he was doing.