Here comes Mr. Jordan
Spoilers Marvel Cinematic Universe spoiler-heavy speculation thread
- Thread starter bbjeg
- Start date
Yeah, if you're going to recast anyway, just having a Black Panther who comes from an alternative universe where Killmonger wasn't a (semi) bad dude seems the logical choice.
And has already been seen in "What if..."
Hopefully not. Casting Jordan would serve to give a certain part of the audience the expectation that this alternate timeline Black Panther would act like prime timeline Killmonger, a man with a world view from the polar opposite of that embraced by T'Challa--a major character development element of the first movie.
Will people come in with the expectation that Dr. Doom is a good guy because he's being played by RDJ?
Regardless, Killmonger was one of the best villains in the MCU because he was right. His moral position (that Wakanda should not be isolationist, and use its technology to help other black people) was the morally righteous one. They just arbitrarily made him a cold-blooded killer to excuse why he was the bad guy of the movie.
Well, it's not like that's an uncommon pattern. Comics and other fiction are full of villains whose ideals are right but whose methods in pursuit of them are deplorable. Poison Ivy is entirely in the right that the ecology needs to be protected. Magneto is fighting for mutant rights. Mr. Freeze just wants to save his wife. The final bosses in Ultraman series often turn out to be trying to destroy humanity because they want to save the Earth's environment or are afraid humans' destructive nature will become a threat to the rest of the universe. It's a common way to make villains sympathetic or to lend ambiguity to a story, or to call attention to a political or social issue.
I'm not saying it's not been done before. But in the MCU in particular, we've really seen this discomfort with revolutionaries which pushes all of the heroes into centrist defenders of the status quo. I think in Black Panther it was handled fairly well, but it absolutely wasn't in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where Karli Morgenthau was barely even an antagonist, and the show chickened out at the last minute on making John Walker the true villain of the story, and stuffed an unconvincing "can't we all just get along?" into Sam's mouth.
Still, my broader point is Killmonger is one of the easiest villains to rehabilitate. It doesn't take much shading at all to make him a hero.
So are you saying Michael Jordan would be a slam dunk?
Can't resist...first thing that pops in to my mind when I hear Michael Jordan.
Probably better than Space Jam.
Probably better than Space Jam.
He's a great actor, and Killmonger has many fans as a character who would be thrilled to see him come in as a variant.
Considering it more, if he's a regular character going forward, he couldn't be a second Black Panther though. Wakanda Forever just set up Shuri as the new Panther. Narratively, it would feel like a huge walk back - implicitly saying "Oops, we made too many female superheroes! Our bad!"
I know if they brought Jordan back my excitement for the movie would go up big time. It was about zero until they got Denzel for the movie. I would be over the moon if they brought Jordan back. IMO he carried the first movie and not to be disrespectful to Boseman but Jordan stole the whole movie IMO. Killmonger is in a three way tie as my favorite MCU villains with Loki and Thanos.
Absolutely no reason that they can't both be Panthers.
I just wanted to look for a little clarity on this comment. I've seen several stories about his death now, and everything seems to be saying it was suicide. So I was just wondering if there are some questions about foul play that they're keeping quiet then?
Shuri to me just doesn't work as the Black Panther. It's not something that makes the character more interesting. She works best as comic relief tech person. The only reason they made her Black Panther is because they literally had nobody else to play the role since they were against recasting at the time. Frankly I would rather see them bring back Everett Ross and they build off that friendship. I kind of like the idea that she is out exploring the world. Denzel Washington is the President of Wakanda now because they have done away with Kings and Queens and have embraced Democracy and Denzel was elected to office by voting. Some threat happens and Killmonger returns from the dead a changed man and with a mission to protect Wakanda. He needs help and gets it from Shuri/Ross,Storm(making her MCU arrival) and Namor, Okoye and M'Baku. The villian is Morlun.
No. They could've made Nakia or Okoye or MBaku the new Black Panther if they wanted to. They chose Shuri because it makes sense, especially in preserving the aspect of the Panther also being the monarch which is kind of central to the franchise, and because Shuri taking the mantle has been long established in the comics and because Coogler wanted Shuri/Wright in the starring role.
I do see the logic in going with her because she was his sister though if this was 20 years ago, no way you do not go with the great Angela Bassett. Who IMO a long with Namor was the highlights of the second movie. Still in the end it really was something that was not in the plans. It was suppose to be Boseman and not just that but I do think he was also suppose to become one of the major players with the Avengers as well.
And comic fans complain when the source material is not respected.
Except when they don't.
And why does it happen that so often it is when gender/ethnicity are involved. "I'm not racist. I just want the movies to remain true to the comics." Except for Shuri, Captain Marvel, Jane Foster, etc, etc. And even Michael B. Jordan in 2015. He was a horrible actor for Johnny Storm, but he is just right for T'Challa???
Last edited: