Exclusive: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever VFX editor Anedra Edwards reveals an intriguing Easter egg about Attuma and Namora’s fighting style.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever VFX editor Anedra Edwards shared an interesting Easter egg about Namora and Attuma’s fighting styles during the Talokan vs. Okoye, Riri, and Shuri fight scene on the bridge in Boston. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever introduces Talokan as a mysterious underwater kingdom led by the powerful Namor, which proves to be an unexpectedly destructive threat to Wakanda. The Talokanil showed some truly impressive fighting styles, including a siren song that hypnotized their enemies and sent them into the water.
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When creating Talokan, the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever team did extensive research to create a fully immersive world and culture based on Mesoamerican civilizations such as the Mayan empire. In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, Edwards revealed that in the fight scene on the bridge, Namora and Attuma use a technique tied to the game Shuri sees young Talokanil playing when she visits the underwater civilization. She also explained that this game is based on real Mesoamerican culture.

Anedra Edwards: During Shuri’s intro to Talokan, you’ll see a lot of the hieroglyphics that have origin in Mesoamerican culture and in Mayan culture. You’ll kind of see that if you really look into it. The game that they’re playing, where they’re using their hip to get the ball kind of into the hoop, when Shuri comes into the city, that’s coming from real Mesoamerican culture. That game was foreshadowed a little bit earlier. When you actually see Attuma and Okoye fight in Boston on the bridge, he uses his hip to actually toss one of the water bombs towards Okoye. So it’s kind of a nice cool little foreshadow. Well, why not just Namora throw the ball at it? She throws it at him, and he hits it with his hip.

Related: Ryan Coogler Explains Why Black Panther 2 Based Talokan On The Americas

How The Details Bring Talokan Culture To Life

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever director Ryan Coogler, producer Nate Moore, and composer Ludwig Göransson have all discussed the extensive research that was put into making Talokan feel authentic and fleshed out. Edwards’ new insight gives new depth to this culture. Incorporating a game that Attuma and Namora played as children into their fighting style not only further develops the world of Talokan, but also establishes a level of trust between the two warriors.

By including these details, Coogler makes Talokan feel real and shows why Namor is willing to go to such extremes. Talokan is not fully explored in the film, but what is shown brings to life a civilization that has lived in peace but is always ready for war. Before Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Talokan had remained largely a secret from the rest of the MCU, but their ability to quickly defend themselves and attack their enemies shows how ingrained their need for self-preservation is, with even the skills learned in children’s games being used by warriors.

Riri Williams, Wakanda, and the entire surface world are threats to the safety of Talokan, which like Wakanda is rich in vibranium. Namor has seen the horrors that can be wrought on his people; it’s what sent them into the water centuries ago. Namor, unlike Shuri and Ramonda, sees the likely outcome of the world’s powerful nations continuing to search for and eventually uncover vibranium. Talokan is a vibrant nation full of innocent people who want to live their lives with children playing games without fear and Namor’s willingness to do whatever it takes becomes more understandable after seeing who and what he is fighting for throughout Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Next: Does Namor’s Talokan Exist In Marvel Comics?

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