Remember back when Black Panther hit theaters and we were certain that it’d reveal the location of the Soul Stone ahead of Avengers: Infinity War? Well, it turned out we were all wrong, as the movie was mostly standalone and the last of the Infinity Stones was later revealed to be in the care of Red Skull on the planet Vormir.
A new fan theory, however, suggests that Black Panther might have a connection to the Soul Stone after all. Reddit user Jaustin40 has put forward the idea that the Vibranium meteor which crashed into Wakanda in ancient times, enriching the land with valuable metal and giving the flora remarkable powers, was actually a piece of Vormir. This could explain why the spiritual plane seen in the film resembles Soul World.
Here’s how the theorist put it:
“Is it possible that the Vibranium Meteor that hit Wakanda so long ago was a chunk of the planet Vormir? That could potentially explain the connection of the Vibranium to the Soul Plane. It would be interesting to see T’Challa in the Soul Plane in Avengers 4 explaining how he’s been here before. Perhaps even have Dr. Strange or possibly Gamora offer some insight as well?”
The theory references the fact that those who ingest the heart-shaped herb which gives the Black Panther his powers are transported to a psychic realm inhabited by the spirits of the dead – which is very much like Soul World, as glimpsed at the end of Infinity War when Thanos speaks with his deceased daughter Gamora. If the meteor was indeed from Vormir, it could mean that the herb was imbued with the Soul Stone’s powers.
Of course, for this explanation to work, it would require the planet Vormir to carry the powers of the Soul Stone itself, which is something that wasn’t been established in IW. However, there does seem to be a mystical connection between the Vormir and the stone. Remember that Red Skull referenced some sort of higher power that called him to the planet and forced him into service as the guardian of the Soul Stone?
Chalk this all up as speculation for now, but as we inch closer and closer to Avengers 4, it certainly makes for some interesting food for thought, wouldn’t you say?