Michael B. Jordan Discusses “Black Panther” Role

As Marvel Studio begins its big blitz of publicity before the release of Black Panther next month, actor Michael B. Jordan is speaking out to promote his villain from the film, Killmonger.

Black Panther is set in the fictional African nation of Wakanda, where the king, T’Challa (played by Chadwick Boseman), is also expected to protect the country by donning the mantle of the superhero Black Panther.

Having a high level of technological advancement due to the presence of vibranium (the same supernatural metal that was used to make Captain America’s shield), Wakanda managed to avoid being colonized by Western powers. It did this by closing itself off, however, and as a result has developed a strong drive toward isolationism; one of T’Challa’s conflicts in this film will be whether or not to open the nation up to the outside world.

This is where Killmonger comes in. In the comics, he was a native of Wakanda who was exiled with his family; changing his name to Erik Killmonger, he was educated in New York but eventually returned to his homeland, wanting to purge it of Western influences. His official film bio implies that the details have been adjusted a bit, but the general point stands: he wants to keep Wakanda isolated from other countries and will fight T’Challa to achieve that goal.

Jordan said that the character can be summarized in one word: “He’s a revolutionary,” he explained.

He also described Killmonger as “very selfless” and “always looking at the bigger picture,” which interestingly enough has allowed him to gain the sort of strategic thinking that makes him so threatening. He suggests that while Killmonger may be jealous of T’Challa’s position on some level, his actions are not just a thoughtless attempt to seize power for himself; he has his own philosophy, albeit one that is very different from our hero.

The entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been criticized for having subpar villains, with only a few exceptions (Thor’s Loki chief among them). Could this clever, sympathetic revolutionary be another candidate for the likeable bad guy club? We know that Jordan wants to redeem himself for the Fantastic Four movie; giving the MCU another compelling antagonist might just be the sort of thing that can help him achieve that.