Black Panther: Who are the Dora Milaje?

Cinema 29 June, 2017

Thanks to Black Panther, we will soon have the opportunity to get to know the famous Dora Milaje. But who are they, by the way?
Black Panther may be both a king and a superhero, he can not handle everything! Between diplomacy, the difficulty of directing a country day by day and the super-villains who come to sow the mess, his hands are full. Luckily for him, he does not have to do it all alone. No ! Because to help him in his various missions, he can count on the support of the famous Dora Milaje . And besides, this group of formidable young women were part of the elements of the first trailer of Black Panther that it was essential not to miss . We even had a glimpse of one of them in Captain America: Civil War – and she was not afraid to stand up to Black Widow herself! Evidence therefore, if need be, That they represent an important part of the world of T’Challa, that they are almost inseparable from it and that they are particularly dangerous. But who are really the Dora Milaje , of which are the characters of Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o and Florence Karumba?
First appeared in 1998 by Christopher Priest and Mark Texeira, 30 years after the creation of the character of Black Panther. From the outset, the Dora Milaje had an important role in preserving peace within the Wakanda . Because each young woman in the group comes from a different tribe of the country and is trained not only to form the personal guard of the king but also to pretend to become his wife! This tradition allows the sovereign to have a hyper-efficient mini-army but also to facilitate the union between the tribes, who see it as an opportunity to see one of them become the queen of Wakanda. In order to fulfill their role effectively, The Dora Milaje follow an extremely rigorous training to master the martial arts and African fighting arts. And it should not be forgotten that they benefit from the resources of vibranium and high technology weapons of the country! That explains why Shuri (Letitia Wright), the sister of Black Panther – who will perhaps be casting The Avengers: Infinity War , btw – brandish two species of highly sophisticated guns in the trailer Of the film!
Of course, for now, it is not clear whether Black Panther’s Dora Milaje will be entirely faithful to their paper version. However, we can think of T’Challa as the personal guard, as they were seen standing in front of Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) in the first trailer. But for now, we only know the identity of 3 – or 4, if we count Shuri in the lot – of them. We know that Florence Karumba takes back the role of Ayo and that Danai Gurira lends her features to Okoye. This one is one of the two most important Dora Milaje appearing in the comics, the second being none other than Nakia, which is incarnated here by Lupita Nyong’o . And it is the latter who would ultimately play the role of love interest of T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman). Whatever their involvement in Black Panther and the plot of the film, we cross the fingers in any case to be as formidable as they are supposed to be! What do you think ?