We recently showed you a bunch of photos from Black Panther, along with character descriptions for Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) and Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis). But the movie features another iconic baddie who was absent from the photos and the descriptions. That villain is Winston Duke's M'Baku, known in Marvel Comics as Man-Ape.
Nate Moore told Entertainment Weekly that, unlike the comics, the February 16, 2018 release will refer to him as simply M'Baku and scrap the Man-Ape moniker:
We don't call him Man-Ape. We do call him M'Baku. Having a black character dress up as an ape, I think there's a lot of racial implications that don't sit well, if it’s done wrong. But the idea that they worship the gorilla gods is interesting, because it's a movie about the Black Panther who, himself, is a sort of deity in his own right.
Ryan Coogler’s movie will introduce M'Baku as the ruler of Wakanda's mountain tribe. He’s a hard-bitten, ruthless warrior, who also exudes dignity and strength. The supervillain wasn’t happy with how T’Challa’s father T'Chaka ruled the nation, and still believes that the former king made "a huge mistake" by going to the U.N. during the Civil War. M’Baku feels that the nation should never engage with the outside world.
Details about M'Baku's exact role in Black Panther are being kept under wraps. But it’s obvious that he and his followers will be just as unhappy with the new king as they were with his father.
Check out our first official look at M’Baku:
First look at Winston Duke as M’Baku (Photo Credit – EW)
With three major villains in Black Panther, there’s some confusion about T'Challa's primary rival. EW asked Boseman whether it was Killmonger:
I can't really say. Klaue is the real villain. I can say that I identify with Killmonger's character. It's going to be a fun character. He definitely has a different point of view. They are polar opposites. A superhero movie is only as great as its villains. I think they both provide a piece of that.
Boseman added that Klaue’s knowledge about Wakanda, access to Vibranium, and interest in weaponizing it all combine to make him a threat:
He (Klaue) is the Osama bin Laden of the movie. He's out there, and you have to go find him, because he's coming back at some point in time.
