Wakanda

"Tell me something. What do you know about Wakanda?" "It's a third world country. Textiles, shepherds, cool outfits..." "All a front. Explorers have searched for it. Called it . They looked for it in South America, but it was in Africa the whole time."

- Ulysses Klaue and Everett Ross

Wakanda, officially known as the Kingdom of Wakanda, is an isolationist country located in Africa. It is ruled by King T'Challa, the heir of the mantle of Black Panther, and is the only known source of the metal vibranium.

Discovering Vibranium
"Vibranium. It's stronger than steel and a third of the weight. It's completely vibration absorbent." "How come it's not standard issue?" "That's the rarest metal on Earth. What you're holding there, that's all we've got."

- Howard Stark and Steve Rogers

Sometime in the 1940s, Howard Stark, the founder and CEO of Stark Industries, sent his researchers to Africa. It was in one of its deepest regions that the researchers discovered vibranium, a metal that supposedly absorbed and deflected vibrations and kinetic energy naturally.

Stark used the entire supply of vibranium to create a shield and hosted a demonstration of this discovery at, a famous local nightclub in Los Angeles.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Surveillance
Wakanda was marked as a "hot-spot" for activities monitored by S.H.I.E.L.D. As such, it was displayed in the holographic maps used by the organization to oversee those activities, such as the ones present in the room where Nick Fury met with Tony Stark to discuss his formal integration into the Avengers Initiative.

Theft of Vibranium
"Upon this rock I will build my church. Vibranium." "You know, it came at great personal cost. It's worth billions." "Now, so are you."

- Ultron and Ulysses Klaue

Black-market arms dealer Ulysses Klaue smuggled large amounts of vibranium out of Wakanda. Klaue was eventually captured and had the word "thief" burnt into his neck, but managed to escape. Klaue began to sell vibranium on the black market until 2015, when the artificial intelligence Ultron purchased the remaining caches for a few billion dollars.

Sokovia Accords
"When stolen Wakandan vibranium was used to make a terrible weapon, we in Wakanda were forced to question our legacy. Those men and women killed in Nigeria were part of a goodwill mission from a country too long in the shadows. We will not, however, let misfortune drive us back. We will fight to improve the world we wish to join."

- T'Chaka at the signing of the Sokovia Accords

After a terrorist attack in Lagos claimed the lives of twenty-six people, eleven of the victims being relief aid workers from Wakanda, King T'Chaka was one of several international politicians who called for the United Nations to create a system of accountability.

Sometime later, the United Nations passed the Sokovia Accords before arranging a formal ceremony at the Vienna International Centre in Austria. T'Chaka and his son T'Challa were among those in attendance.

During the ceremony, as T'Chaka gave the keynote address, a bomb detonated and decimated the building, killing T'Chaka and twelve other people.

Immediately following the attack, security footage revealed that Bucky Barnes was responsible for T'Chaka's death. T'Challa, who inherited the throne, set out to kill Barnes only to discover he had been framed by Sokovian intelligence officer Helmut Zemo.

Sanctuary
"You know if they find out he's here, they'll come for him." "Let them try."

- Steve Rogers and T'Challa

Following Zemo's arrest and imprisonment, T'Challa granted Barnes and Steve Rogers asylum in Wakanda, promising to help the former cleanse his mind of the HYDRA programming implemented.

Trivia

 * Wakanda is depicted as a small area around, a point where Uganda, , and  meet. Interestingly, this is the location of the , an area of land contested between Kenya and South Sudan.
 * The geography of Wakanda depicted thus far shows lush vegetation, which would situate Wakanda in Central Africa, i.e. bordering the, rather than where it is seen on maps bordering Kenya and Ethiopia, where there is mostly just desert.
 * During the Sokovia Accords in Vienna, T'Chaka speaks to his son T'Challa in, and it therefore appears to be their native tongue. However, while the Wakandan language is likely to be a (like Xhosa is) given its location, Xhosa is spoken in southern Africa, far from where Wakanda is said to be. Additionally, given Wakandan traditions that in the comics are said to derive from Ancient Egypt, the Wakandan language may also be Afro-Asiatic.

Behind the Scenes

 * In the commentary for Iron Man 2, Jon Favreau noted Wakanda specifically as one of the locations Nick Fury was watching.
 * A vibranium mine in Wakanda was a location planned to appear in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but was ultimately scrapped.
 * John Kani, the actor who portrays T'Chaka, taught Chadwick Boseman to speak for the film.

Appearances
In chronological order:
 * Black Panther Prelude
 * Iron Man 2 (computer screen)
 * Avengers: Age of Ultron (mentioned)
 * Captain America: Civil War
 * Avengers: Infinity War Prelude
 * Black Panther
 * Avengers: Infinity War