Thousands of years ago, five African tribes warred over a meteorite containing the metal vibranium. One warrior ingests a “heart-shaped herb” affected by the metal and gains superhuman abilities, becoming the first “Black Panther”. He unites all but the Jabari Tribe to form Wakanda. Over centuries, the Wakandans use vibranium to develop advanced technologies and isolate themselves from the world by posing as an underdeveloped country. In 1992, the Wakanda king T’Chaka visits his brother N’Jobu, who is working undercover in Oakland, California. T’Chaka accuses N’Jobu of assisting black-market arms dealer Ulysses Klaue with stealing vibranium from Wakanda. N’Jobu’s partner reveals he is Zuri, another undercover Wakandan, and confirms T’Chaka’s suspicions.

In the present day, following T’Chaka’s death,^[a] his son T’Challa returns to Wakanda to assume the throne. He and Okoye, leader of the Dora Milaje, extract T’Challa’s ex-lover Nakia from an undercover assignment so she can attend his coronation ceremony with his mother Ramonda and younger sister Shuri. At the ceremony, the Jabari Tribe’s leader M’Baku challenges T’Challa for the crown in ritual combat without the benefit of the heart-shaped herb. T’Challa defeats M’Baku when he persuades him to yield rather than die.

When Klaue and his accomplice Erik Stevens steal a Wakandan artifact from a London museum, T’Challa’s friend and Okoye’s husband W’Kabi urges him to bring Klaue to justice. T’Challa, Okoye, and Nakia travel to Busan, where Klaue plans to sell the artifact to CIA agent Everett K. Ross. A firefight erupts, and Klaue attempts to flee but is caught by T’Challa, who reluctantly releases him to Ross’s custody. As Ross interrogates Klaue, Erik attacks and extracts Klaue; Ross is gravely injured protecting Nakia. Rather than pursue Klaue, T’Challa takes Ross to Wakanda, where their technology can save him.

While Shuri tends to Ross, T’Challa confronts Zuri about N’Jobu, whose necklace is worn by Erik. Zuri reveals that N’Jobu, disillusioned with Wakanda’s isolationism, planned to share its technology with people of African descent to help them overcome their oppressors, with Klaue’s assistance. Before T’Chaka could apprehend him, N’Jobu attacked Zuri, forcing T’Chaka to kill him. T’Chaka ordered Zuri to claim N’Jobu vanished and leave N’Jadaka, his American son, behind to maintain the story. This boy grew into Erik, a former Navy SEAL black ops, later nicknamed “Killmonger.” Meanwhile, Killmonger kills Klaue and brings his body to Wakanda. He reveals himself as N’Jadaka to the tribal elders, asserting his claim to the throne. Killmonger challenges T’Challa to ritual combat, kills Zuri, and severely injures T’Challa, who is presumed dead after being thrown over a waterfall. Killmonger consumes the heart-shaped herb and orders the rest incinerated, but Nakia extracts one. Backed by W’Kabi and his army, Killmonger prepares to distribute Wakandan weapons worldwide.

Nakia, Shuri, Ramonda, and Ross flee to the Jabari Tribe for aid. They find a comatose T’Challa, rescued by the Jabari as repayment for sparing M’Baku’s life. Healed by Nakia’s herb, T’Challa returns to fight Killmonger. W’Kabi and his army fight Shuri, Nakia, and the Dora Milaje while Ross remotely pilots a jet and shoots down the planes carrying the weapons before they can leave Wakanda. M’Baku and the Jabari arrive to reinforce T’Challa. Confronted by Okoye, W’Kabi and his army stand down. Fighting in Wakanda’s vibranium mine, T’Challa disrupts Killmonger’s nanotech suit and stabs him. Killmonger refuses to be healed, choosing to die as a free man rather than be incarcerated; T’Challa shows him the Wakanda sunset, and Killmonger dies peacefully.

T’Challa establishes an outreach center at the building where N’Jobu died, which is run by Nakia and Shuri. In a mid-credits scene, T’Challa appears before the United Nations to reveal Wakanda’s true nature. In a post-credits scene, Shuri helps Bucky Barnes with his rehabilitation.