Why Okoye Isn’t Thrilled To See The Avengers In Wakanda

Danai Gurira in Black Panther

Needless to say, the following contains spoilers for Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. Stop reading now if you'd like to go into the upcoming blockbuster knowing next to nothing.

Last year, when we visited the set of Joe and Anthony Russo's Avengers: Infinity War and spoke with Mark Ruffalo and Chadwick Boseman, the duo made jokes about how Black Panther and his Dora Milaje would react to the Avengers being in Wakanda. The mood, according to Ruffalo, was a "there goes the neighborhood" type of vibe, even though Earth's mightiest heroes were coming to T'Challa's backyard to help defend our planet against its single greatest threat, Thanos (Josh Brolin). In our exclusive interview with Black Panther co-star Danai Gurira, she backed up Boseman's concerns about the Avengers coming to Wakanda, playfully explaining to CinemaBlend:

She's more cautious about [their arrival]. She's always thinking about how many things can go wrong, and how much she can control what could go wrong before it goes wrong. But there's not a lot of control that she can have over something that's coming that's this massive. But that's where her caution is. That's where her concerns lie. It's, of course, in her gut. The vocation of being a Dora is [that] you're learning how to be one from quite a young age, so her entire vocation has been to maintain this nation. This is actually the biggest -- there's another major threat they go through in the [Black Panther] movie you will have seen by the time this comes out, but this is one of the biggest threats they've dealt with.

At the time of our interview with Danai Gurira on the set of Avengers: Infinity War, we hadn't yet see Ryan Coogler's Black Panther, so we were unaware how the arrival of Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) would disrupt the balance in Wakanda and force a difficult discussion about opening up the airtight borders that contain the unique and valuable African nation. Now, however, at the tail end of Black Panther, T'Challa and Shuri have opened up the nation of Wakanda to the world, but as Okoye realizes, this just opens the nation up to escalating threats.

Thanos is going to be a threat. See how he bring pains and suffering in the latest Avengers: Infinity War trailer:

Our exclusive coverage from the set of Joe and Anthony Russo's Avengers: Infinity War continues all week. While you wait, bookmark our Upcoming Marvel Movies guide to stay up to date on all of the latest Marvel happenings.

Sean O'Connell
Managing Editor

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.