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Near the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, in the Wakandan challenge/enthronement ceremony, after Princess Shuri was introduced, it is M'Baku who comes out of the ship instead.

M'Baku: The Black Panther sends her regards, but she will not be joining us today. I, M'Baku, leader of the Jabari Tribe, son of Wakanda, wish to challenge for the throne.

The scene cuts off after the above dialogue was said.

(The scene seems to be a callback to the humorous scene in Black Panther where the crowd was asked who wanted to challenge T'Challa. Shuri raised her hand, surprising everyone, but she just jokes that her corset is uncomfortable and that they should all just wrap it up and go home.)

Due to the absurdity of M'Baku's entrance and challenge (and seemingly mirroring what Shuri did in Black Panther), I'm not sure if M'Baku's challenge was also meant to be humorous, if M'Baku was just kidding.

Since Shuri wasn't present in the ceremony, M'Baku will have no one to fight for the challenge. What is the significance of M'Baku's challenge? By not presenting herself in the ceremony, did Shuri turn over the throne to M'Baku? Or is it just a joke by M'Baku?

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  • Why Did M’Baku Challenge for the Throne in Black Panther Wakanda Forever? Answered
    – Valorum
    Commented Nov 13, 2022 at 10:01
  • 1
    I have a feeling that Shuri thought a great leader of him, so allowed him to challenge freely. I also believe that this will set up a civil-war-esque conflict when [spoiler] grows older.
    – Möoz
    Commented Nov 13, 2022 at 22:41
  • I doubt Shuri would have the patience for council meetings when she could be doing super-science and occasionally black panthering. The previous black panthers did ruling and black panthering - so 2 jobs is OK- three full time jobs is too much for anyone and she is a scientist first.
    – lucasbachmann
    Commented Nov 14, 2022 at 4:46

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I suspect that the significance is that of plot bookends.

Matching scenes at the beginning and end of a story, often to show how things have changed through the course of the series, or that they haven't changed at all.

At the beginning of Black Panther, M'Baku is the only person to challenge T'Challa, although the events of the movie establish that he respects T'Challa and might have made the challenge simply so that no one can say that T'Challa only became the Black Panther by default of being unchallenged. And so, here, at the end of the second movie, he makes his challenge again, although we don't see the outcome.

And, as indicated in Valorum's link, this may have been a setup with Shuri, who shows no indication of wanting to rule over Wakanda.

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