Wakanda's queen mother
Ramonda is the widow of King T'Chaka and the mother of T'Challa and Shuri. In Black Panther she is a calm, dignified presence at court, the person who blesses her son's coronation and reminds him what the throne demands. She speaks rarely, and when she does, people listen.
The character is built on authority and grief in equal parts. She has already lost her husband when we meet her, and her films keep asking how much more a queen can carry before she breaks. She never quite does, and that steel is what audiences remember.
Her appearances in order
- Black Panther, essential. Her introduction as queen mother.
- Avengers: Endgame, essential for the MCU overall. Ramonda's part is a brief appearance late in the film.
- What If...?, optional. An alternate-universe animated appearance.
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, recommended. Her largest role by far.
Key moments, kept light
Black Panther gives her one of the film's most emotional threads. When the throne is challenged and the royal family is in danger, Ramonda has to flee with Shuri and Nakia and seek help from an unexpected place. Her faith in her son, and her refusal to give up on him, carries those scenes.
In Endgame she appears only briefly, reunited with her family once the dust has settled. Blink and you will miss it, so do not watch the film for her alone.
Wakanda Forever is Ramonda's film. With the nation mourning, she rules from the throne and faces pressure from foreign governments and a new threat from beneath the sea. The film gives her a powerful address to the United Nations and lets her be fierce, cutting and protective all at once. We will not spoil where her story goes from there.
Family and allies
Her children are the center of her life, and both Black Panther heroes, T'Challa and Shuri, shape her arc. With Shuri in particular, Wakanda Forever explores a mother and daughter grieving in very different ways. Okoye, general of the Dora Milaje, answers directly to the crown, and their relationship becomes tense when Ramonda's patience runs out. M'Baku, leader of the Jabari, starts as a rival to the throne and earns her respect over time. Bucky Barnes is the guest Wakanda takes in, recovering there in the period around Black Panther.
Angela Bassett as Ramonda
Angela Bassett plays Ramonda in all three films. She brings a regal stillness to the first movie and a ferocious, wounded energy to Wakanda Forever, where her big speeches became instant favorites with fans. Few actors can make a single raised eyebrow feel like a royal decree.
Outside Marvel, Bassett is famous for playing Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It, for Waiting to Exhale, and for her long-running role as Athena Grant on the TV drama 9-1-1.
Watching Ramonda's story in order
Release order and story order are the same here: Black Panther, then Avengers: Endgame, then Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. If you have not seen Avengers: Infinity War, it is still worth watching before Endgame, because Endgame continues that film directly, even though Ramonda is not in it.
For a shorter route focused on her, Black Panther followed by Wakanda Forever covers almost everything. More Wakandans are waiting in our Marvel character guide.