Shuri loves her brother deeply and, with her extreme scientific knowledge, she helps not only Wakanda as a whole but also T'Challa in his role as a superhero. After her brother's passing, Shuri assumes his role, taking on the mantle of Black Panther.
Shuri was created by Ben Dunn, Reginald Hudlin, and John Romita Jr.
“This corset is really uncomfortable, so can we all just wrap it up and go home?”
―Shuri's lack of conformity to Wakandan tradition.
Unlike her older brother and the rest of her family overall, Shuri is not a traditionalist and never hides it, sometimes mockingly. She often presents subjects with a youthful humor but nonetheless remains professional in her work or her objectives. She maintains a good brotherly relationship with T'Challa, the two being playful at the other's remarks when the situation is not critical. Shuri does not specifically share all of her brother's views, such as his opinion that what is working well doesn't need improvement or that he should involve his ex-girlfriend in a mission due. Shuri is also very passionate about American culture, so she sometimes uses it as a reference in her sentences, just as she has a good knowledge of the United States. Like most geniuses, Shuri points out a creation's flaws by exposition, albeit in a flirtatious or surprised way.
After her brother's death, Shuri became bitter and withdrawn, blaming herself for not being able to save him. A year later, she remained isolated from the world, unable to truly move forward but following the growing threat of Namor, she briefly returned to her relaxed personality until the death of her mother which left her broken and vengeful. It was only once she was about to finish Namor that she realized what anger had done to her and chose to give the Talokanil a second chance under the protection of Wakanda. The harsh ordeal pushed Shuri to leave Wakanda to be closer to what was closest to her as a family, finally allowing her to mourn T'Challa.
Shuri is with her mother Queen Ramonda to greet the return of her brother, Prince T'Challa, and his ally Nakia back to Wakanda. An impish Shuri asks Okoye whether T'Challa froze during his mission and laughs when Okoye confirms. The next day, Shuri participates in the ceremony for T'Challa's coronation watching Zuri anoint T'Challa; Zuri then inquires if anyone wishes to challenge the new king for the throne, Shuri jokingly raises her hand but explains she only wants to speed up the ceremony to change her clothes. However, the ceremony is disrupted by the arrival of M'Baku and his tribe to challenge T'Challa. T'Challa accepts and he duels with M'Baku; as they fight, Shuri strongly encourages T'Challa to fight back until he finally overpowers M'Baku.
When T'Challa is preparing for his mission to capture Ulysses Klaue, Shuri provides him with inventions she has been working on for him: "Sneakers", sound-nullifying boots; kimoyo beads; a remote-control car; and a modified version of his Panther Habit suit now transportable through his necklace via nanotechnology. Shuri explains that the suit can absorb kinetic energy and redistribute it after T'Challa kicks the suit to test it. Setting up a camera, Shuri innocently asks T'Challa to kick the suit again although T'Challa questions this before proceeding; by kicking the suit, he is knocked back by a kinetic wave while Shuri records the moment. Shuri is then ordered to erase the video by a humiliated T'Challa.
In Busan, T'Challa contacts Shuri for assistance during a car chase with Klaue. In her lab, Shuri remotely drives a car T'Challa stands on top of, and the royal siblings pursue Klaue's cars. Shuri eventually comes near Klaue's car, however, Klaue uses his prosthetic arm's sonic cannon to damage Shuri's car. The destruction severs Shuri's connection with the car, although T'Challa is able to apprehend Klaue in moments.
Shuri is at her lab to greet T'Challa following his return carrying an injured Everett Ross in tow. She takes care of Ross through surgery and successfully heals him with the Vibranium. When Ross awakens, Shuri jokes to a startled Ross they are in Kansas before saying that she healed him with Vibranium while he was unconscious that bewilders Ross. Before she could say more, Okoye arrives at the lab to warn Shuri that an outsider named Erik Killmonger arrived who claimed to have killed Klaue. Ross recognizes the individual as a former U.S. operative rather than a Wakandan. Sensing that something was wrong, Shuri contacts T'Challa to come back to her lab for Ross to dig out information on the visitor.
Killmonger is brought to the throne room where Shuri and her family are present. Killmonger stirs up the tension, including derisively calling Shuri a princess; Shuri says Killmonger is nothing more than a mercenary. However, when finally asked his name, Killmonger reveals his true identity as N'Jadaka, son of the late Prince N'Jobu. Killmonger then demands a duel against T'Challa for the throne of Wakanda. Returning to Warrior Falls, Shuri attends the duel confident that T'Challa would win. Unfortunately, Killmonger soon adds the upper hand and, to Shuri's horror, he wins the duel after killing Zuri and throwing T'Challa down the waterfall. Nakia quickly escorts her and Ramonda away for their safety.
Together with her mother, Nakia and Ross, Shuri travels to the Jabiri Tribe intending to give the last Heart-Shaped Herb to M'Baku. When the tribe ambushes them and takes them to M'Baku, Nakia presents him with the Herb. Instead of accepting it, M'Baku takes them to an unconscious T'Challa, who had been saved by a Jabari fisherman and covered in snow to prevent him from dying. Realizing that T'Challa would die in seconds if taken outside, the group decides to use the Herb to perform a ritual that successfully revives T'Challa. After T'Challa's recuperation, Shuri returns his Panther Habit necklace to him, claiming she will fight alongside the Black Panther.
Shuri, along with Nakia and Ross, sneaks into Shuri's lab to reclaim some of Shuri's inventions - Shuri retrieving her Vibranium Gauntlets and Nakia a Dora Milaje suit. Ross is given kimoyo beads by Shuri to help him pilot a Wakandan aircraft to eliminate the departing weapon cargos. Outside on Mount Bashenga, T'Challa and Killmonger have begun their battle. Shuri and Nakia join in and aid the Dora Milaje against Killmonger. Although they are briefly able to subdue Killmonger, he finally beats them. Shuri's gauntlets become damages and herself pinned down by Killmonger, but Shuri only tells Killmonger he will never be a real King. Shuri is then saved by T'Challa when he throws himself to Killmonger that both are knocked into the Vibranium mines. T'Challa orders Shuri to activate the Mlaglev trains so that the train's stabilizers would disrupt Killmonger's suit, despite being warned by Shuri that his suit would also be affected. Shuri then rushes in to help Nakia, Okoye, and Ayo as they are cornered by Border Tribe; however, the Jabiri Tribe suddenly arrives and turn back the tide of the battle, allowing Shuri and the others to get the Border Tribe to surrender. Meanwhile, Killmonger's defeat by T'Challa allows Shuri and her allies to return to the city.
T'Challa then takes Shuri to Oakland. Expressing disappointment over coming to a less-renowned area of California, Shuri asks T'Challa why they were here, and T'Challa tells Shuri that they were in the place where N'Jobu was killed. Shuri is relieved that the building the murder was in is being burned down, but T'Challa reveals he bought it and the surrounding area intending to make it the first Wakandan Outreach Center and appoints Shuri as the head of the science and information exchange. Shuri at first thinks T'Challa is joking before he disables the cloaking of the Royal Talon Flyer he brought to let the children nearby see it. Shuri introduces herself to the children and she begins sharing her work to the world.
In a post-credits scene, Shuri is supervising Bucky Barnes' rehabilitation from his scheduling. After Bucky wakes up in a remote Wakandan village, he finds Shuri nearby, who asks how he was feeling. Bucky replies he feels good, and thanks Shuri for her work.
When the android Vision is brought to Wakanda by the Avengers, Shuri is asked by her brother to help safely extract the Mind Stone embedded on Vision's forehead before Thanos could claim the stone for his Infinity Gauntlet. The Black Order soon arrives to collect the stone, forcing the Avengers and the Wakandan military to fight them off in order to buy time for Shuri to complete the operation while she is guarded by Ayo and Scarlet Witch. After Scarlet leaves to help the others, however, they are finally confronted by Corvus Glaive, and he incapacitates Ayo. To save Vision, Shuri reactivates him while she tries to fight against Corvus Glaive, wearing her gauntlets to do so, but she is incapacitated and was unable to complete her work. She is one of the victims of Thanos snap.
Shuri is resurrected when Bruce Banner/Hulk uses the Infinity Gauntlet to undo the snap and bring everyone back to life. She joins the battle against Thanos and his army of Chitauri, Outriders and the Black Order. After the death of Thanos, Shuri is present with her family at the funeral of Tony Stark where Shuri and her brother are reunited with their mother.
Shuri makes a non-speaking appearance in "What If... T'Challa Became a Star-Lord?", set in an alternate timeline where T'Challa was kidnapped by Ravagers in 1988. Twenty years later, Shuri witnesses her brother's return to Wakanda with his friends he met in space. She is last seen speaking with Korath.
Shuri also appears in "What If... Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?" in alternate timeline set in 2008. Shuri attends the event echoed by the death of her brother at the hands of Killmonger and then of Tony Stark whom he had orchestrated. Killmonger manages to deceive T'Chaka as General Ross sends Vibranium androids to war with Wakanda, posing as a savior. However, Shuri has been suspicious of her cousin since the beginning and ends up uncovering the truth about T'Challa and Tony's murder. She then manages to travel to America to reveal the truth to Pepper Potts and thus stop the coming war.
In "What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?", as Wakanda bears the costs of war, Shuri, Pepper and the Dora Milaje storm the throne room to confront Killmonger but discover when they arrive that he is no longer there, having been taken away by The Watcher.
Shuri returns in this film as the titular protagonist. In 2024, Shuri is informed by her brother, T'Challa, that he has been diagnosed by an undisclosed illness so she spends weeks, even months, trying to recreate the synthetic herb that she believes will cure him. Frustrated that the herb is failing, Shuri kicks out fellow scientists from her lab. Shuri is then informed by her mother that it is too late and that T'Challa has passed away. Heartbroken, Shuri breaks down, later attending the funeral of her loved brother and the fallen king.
One year later, Shuri starts building new armor for the Dora Milaje, which Okoye hates. Ramonda comes in to see Shuri on the first anniversary of T'Challa's passing and decides to take her daughter to a local beach so they can burn their funeral robes, in order to finally mourn and say goodbye to T'Challa. During their discussion, the mother-daughter duo are greeted by Namor - an underwater God - who threatens them.
Shuri as the new Black Panther
Sometime later, Suri is informed if a young, gifted scientist who is revealed to be a college student named Riri Williams/Ironheart. Shuri visits M.I.T university with Okoye where she meets Williams about the invention the teenager has created, learning it is for a school project. Shuri and Okoye later return to Wakanda with Riri to meet Romonda and work on recreating the heart shaped herb. While Riri is with Ramonda, Shuri and Okoye are on the phone to her mother when Namor invades Wakanda, flooding the country and is responsible for the death of Ramonda. Shuri learns of her mother's death, who has drowned trying to save Riri.
Grief-ridden by her mother's death, Shuri is assumed queen of Wakanda after Ramonda's funeral. Wanting revenge on Namor, Shuri is able to successfully recreate the heart shaped herb and meets her deceased cousin Erik Killmonger in the astral plane. Shuri drinks the herb and becomes the new Black Panther with her own suit. Shuri, now the Black Panther, is tested for her strength by M'Baku and she vows to kill Namor to avenge her mother's death as well as for the destruction he caused on Wakanda.
Shiri later finds Namor on a beach, where she battles him, to near death. As the Black Panther is about to make the final blow, she refuses to kill Namor and they make a truce, deciding to work together. Shuri later refuses the crown and M'Baku becomes king of Wakanda, unchallenged.
Sometime later, Shuri retreats to Tahiti where she can finally mourn her brother and burn her funeral robes. Shuri is then greeted by Nakia, T'Challa's girlfriend, who is with a young boy who is revealed to be her and T'Challa's son. Nakia explains why she wasn't at the funeral with Ramonda and Shuri as T'Challa did not want Nakia and his son to attend the funeral. Shuri learns this young boy is her nephew named T'Challa, named after his father. Emotional, Shuri mourns her brother with Nakia and T'Challa II.
Disney Parks
Shuri will appear as the female Black Panther along with his brother T'Challa, Okoye, two members of Dora Milaje soldiers, and M'Baku in Avengers Campus.
In the comics, Shuri assumed the mantle of Black Panther from her half-brother T'Challa after he was temporarily left in a comatose state, while in the MCU, she takes on the mantle after he dies from an undisclosed illness. The two also share the same parents unlike the comics.
