Relationship Spotlight: Okoye & T’Challa (Black Panther)

How cool is it that this superhero film features three major female characters (there’s Ramonda too, but her role is quite a bit smaller) who all have interesting and different relationships with the male lead?  We’ve already looked at T’Challa with his sister Shuri and his once-and-potential-future paramour Nakia; now, it’s time to see him with his loyal right hand, Okoye (T’Challa-Okoye-related spoilers.)

As the general of the Dora Milaje, Okoye spends a great deal of her time at her king’s side.  Whether it’s flying his plane, advising him on strategy, joining him on undercover missions, or leading the Dora Milaje to battle in his name, she is both highly capable and deeply devoted to her service.  She may not have the same careful hand for undercover work that Nakia or T’Challa do, but you’d be hard-pressed to match her skill or her boldness in a fight.  With her everpresent spear in hand, she’s a deadly foe, and she’s always ready and willing to do battle for the sake of Wakanda.

T’Challa trusts Okoye, his general, greatly.  That doesn’t mean he always takes the advice she gives him – such as their mission at the start of the film, where he goes in alone despite her counsel and she winds up dropping in anyway to save him at an opportune moment – but he’s pretty much always prepared to hear it.  He respects her insight and experience, and there’s something quite stirring about seeing a young king, who is himself skilled in both combat and strategy, consulting this trusted female warrior.  The film definitely establishes the ties between T’Challa and W’Kabi, but the comradeship T’Challa has with Okoye is demonstrated, almostly effortlessly, in every scene they share together.

(On a side note, it occurs to me that, while Okoye and T’Challa are often in the same fights, I don’t think we’ve really seen much of them actually fighting side by side.  There are always so many bad guys involved that their respective attentions tend elsewhere, and each ends up kicking ass in a different part of the fight/battle.  Given their different fighting styles – T’Challa’s graceful acrobatics and hand-to-hand combat, Okoye’s skill and power with her spear – it would be really fun to watch them fighting more alongside each other.)

But more than allies, more than a king and his loyal general, they’re also very genuinely friends.  T’Challa and Okoye are both more reserved than a lot of the characters in the film, and so they’re a good match, bringing a steadiness to the work they accomplish together.  They discuss strategy efficiently and well, but they have fun, too.  Okoye is definitely at her funniest with T’Challa, lightly teasing him about his feelings for Nakia or innocently playing it off when he good-naturedly chides her for having fun at Everett Ross’s expense.  While they make a strong team in a fight, there’s a history and a rich platonic regard backing that up.