M’Baku
Black Panther takes a fair amount of liberties when it comes to adapting its characters from the comic book page, but one of the most altered is M’Baku, as played by Winston Duke in the film.
In the comics, M’Baku is more usually known as the supervillain Man-Ape and is one of Black Panther’s most persistent foes. He’s much more primal and savage than the MCU version – he’s even known to eat rare white gorilla flesh in order to increase his strength. The film instead casts the character as the leader of the rival J’Bari tribe and later a reluctant ally of T’Challa’s.
Though his comic book name is avoided for obvious reasons, there are hints to his roots in the source material in his choice of white gorilla fur clothing and his preferred term of address: “Great gorilla M’Baku.”
This also isn’t the last time we’ll see the character, as Duke has confirmed that M’Baku will have a sizeable role in Avengers: Infinity War.
