You’ve heard of warmongers and, no thanks to the Internet, rumormongers, but what about Killmongers?
Erik Killmonger, otherwise known as the Golden Jaguar, is the chief antagonist of Marvel’s Black Panther – a warped, power-hungry baddie who threatens to rain on T’Challa’s parade.
All of this comes just as Wakanda braces for “political unrest” following T’Chaka’s death, and it’s up to Chadwick Boseman’s titular hero to prove himself worthy of the throne. And that’s where Black Panther really begins.
With only three weeks to go until the film’s release here in the States, Marvel producer Nate Moore recently spoke more about Erik Killmonger and, essentially, the motivations fueling his open rebellion.
The interesting comparison we’ve been making, and this is going to sound crazy, but we’ve always thought of the Black Panther as a James Bond kind of movie, right? This big, globetrotting epic, but in talking with Ryan Coogler, the director, one of the things that he also liked was this sort of Godfather kind of storytelling.
Moore continued:
When I say ‘Godfather’ it’s the idea that, it’s very much a story about family and a story about an organization where new leadership is taking place. Much like the Godfather, you have the five families, right? They’re all vying for power, and in this case, it’s power over Wakanda. I think Killmonger sees Wakanda as something that could be used differently than it currently is in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and that puts him directly at odds with T’Challa.
For Michael B. Jordan, this is a chance to make amends for Fantastic Four – aside from Chris Evans, Halle Berry and Ben Affleck, there aren’t many actors who can claim to be two-time superheroes – and when it comes to Black Panther, we have reason to believe the MCU’s latest installment will go on to become one of Marvel’s most successful releases, commercially and critically.
Said to be eyeing an opening weekend in the ballpark of $100M-$120M, Black Panther is expected to claw its way into US theaters on February 16th. And it’s much more than a simple precursor to Avengers: Infinity War.