Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger was one of the best villains the MCU has seen to date. As much as I love the franchise, it’s perhaps safe to say that its villains aren’t particularly memorable. There are obvious exceptions like Thanos (and I have a big soft spot for Michael Keaton’s Vulture), but Killmonger had a powerful political dimension that made Black Panther feel like a smarter superhero movie than most. His revolutionary plans to distribute Wakandan technology to people of color around the world was so convincing that many viewers sympathized with his plans – with a meme that “Killmonger was right” doing the rounds on the film’s release.
He also got an extremely heroic death. After a battle with T’Challa, he was stabbed in the belly and was slowly bleeding out. Despite knowing that he could be saved by Wakandan technology, he watched a beautiful sunset and chose to die with dignity, saying:
“Just bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, ’cause they knew death was better than bondage.”
It’s a powerful moment. But now we’re hearing rumors that Jordan might be returning as Killmonger for Black Panther 2. Reversing one of the most memorable deaths in the MCU seems like a bad idea to me (though Wonder Woman 1984 is about to try the same thing), but it’s looking more and more likely.
So, how could this happen? Well, other than the fact that he died in a land full of near-magical Vibranium powered technology that could patch him, we’ve already seen dead characters reappear in the movie’s Ancestral Plane. This seems to be where the spirits of the Wakandan Royal Family reside, and logically, it’s where Killmonger would end up, too. Him appearing here (hopefully at peace) would be the most tasteful way for him to show up in the sequel. But then there’s the Wakandan Resurrection Altar from the comics, on which Killmonger has been resurrected in the past.
While I loved the character as much as everyone else, I really, really hope they don’t bring him back to life. He actively wanted to die in Black Panther, and robbing him of that last moment of dignity feels wrong. Plus, it kinda feels like they’re running low on ideas if they’re resurrecting characters one film on, doesn’t it?