Captain America: Civil Waris tearing it up at the box office both at home and abroad, and in a movie that brought Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it may not have been Peter Parker who had the biggest breakout.Chadwick Boseman’sBlack Pantherhas been one of the most praised and talked about aspects of the Russo brothers follow up toCaptain America: Winter Soldier. And now anticipation is even higher for the character’s solo film, which isn’t coming until February 2018.
In addition toBosemanreturning as T’Challa andStar Wars: The Force AwakensstarLupita Nyong’obeing in talks for the lead female role in the film, it was recently announced thatMichael B. Jordanwill be re-teaming with directorRyan Cooglerfor a third time as the villain. Jordan’s role in the film has yet to be officially revealed, but the reports have suggested that he will likely be the film’smain bad guy.
Fans got their first look atBlack Pantherin Marvel’s current blockbusterCivil War, which has already earned a $295.8 million domestically and $645 million internationally for a worldwide total of $940.8 million after two weekends at number #1 on the box office charts. Thepost-credit sceneinCaptain America: Civil Waralso gave us our first look atBlack Panther’s homeland of Wakanda, with a massive facility where The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) is now being held. We don’t know for sure ifBlack Pantherwill be surfacing in any of the other Marvel Cinematic Universe movies that are coming out beforeBlack Pantherhits theaters on July 20, 2025.
As forMichael B. Jordan, the actor is no stranger to the superhero genre. Last year, he portrayed Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in 20th Century Fox’sFantastic Fourreboot, which failed to make much of a dent at the box office. Ironically, the casting news that he’d joinedBlack Panthercame just hours after we reported thatFantastic FourproducerSimon Kinbergstill wants to makeFantastic Four 2last week. It isn’t known how many major characters have yet to be cast inBlack Panther, and no story details have been revealed.
Ryan Coogleris directingBlack Panther, and he is also currently re-working the script originally written byJoe Robert Cole. ProducerKevin Feigerevealed last month that Marvel Studios is aiming to start production onBlack Pantherin January of 2017, but we don’t know for sure where exactly filming will take place. We also don’t know if another prominent Wakandan character,Andy Serkis' Ulysses Klaue, who was introduced inAvengers: Age of Ultron, will return inBlack Panther, butKevin Feigehas said in the past that we haven’t seen the last of Klaue. He also revealed that the movie will have a 90% African orAfrican-American cast.
This project will markMichael B. Jordan’s third collaboration withRyan Coogler, who has starred in both of the director’s feature films thus far, the 2013 dramaFruitvale Stationand last year’s blockbusterCreed. The actor is also developing a remake ofThe Thomas Crown Affair, withJordanset to star in and produce alongsideCaptain America: Civil WardirectorsAnthony RussoandJoe Russo. So the question is, who exactly is Jordan playing?Black Panther’s villains are not exactly as well known as some of the other characters in theMCU, but here are few theCreedstar could become in the highly anticipated standalone adventure.
5[1] Man-Ape
At first glance, it may be difficult to picture Jordan playing Man-Ape, aka M’Baku. But looks aren’t everything and there is a lot of story to mine with this character. M’Baku was at one point the greatest warrior in Black Panther’s home country of Wakanda, second only to T’Challa himself. To become Man-Ape, M’Baku hunted, killed and ate the heart of a rare white gorilla which gave him superhuman powers. Man-Ape squared off with Black Panther and challenged him for the throne of Wakanda and gave T’Challa a run for his money in the process. The dynamic with the characters could make for a very cool on-screen dynamic and play into the very different culture that Wakanda will represent when compared to the rest of the MCU.
4[2] Erik Killmonger
Though Black Panther villains aren’t as well known in the scope of the Marvel Universe as Spider-Man’s are, Erik Killmonger may be his most noteworthy advisory and is maybe the most sensible choice for a bad guy for the firstBlack Panther movie. Killmonger, otherwise known as N’Jadaka, was exiled from Wakanda along with his entire family after his father was forced to help attack Wakanda with Ulysses Klaw, who has already appeared in the MCU inAvengers: Age of Ultronand will probably be reprising his role inBlack Panther. N’Jadaka eventually made his way back to Wakanda and plotted his revenge against T’Challa. Given the history with Klaw and the backstory that is ripe for revenge, it seems like a very good fit and is a pretty interesting character for Jordan to inhabit.
3[3] White Wolf
If White Wolf is who Coogler and Marvel Studios pick for Jordan inBlack Panther, it would both make sense and almost mirror what has already happened with Loki and Thor in the MCU up to this point. Black Panther’s father T’Chaka, who spoilers gets killed inCivil War, adopted a boy named Hunter after his parents died, who of course grew up jealous and spiteful of his brother T’Challa. Hunter grew up to be the head of the Wakandan secret police force, the Hatut Zeraze which is when he took up the moniker of White Wolf. Eventually, at least in the comics, T’Challa disbands the Hatut Zeraze because of their very violent practices, and White Wolf is understandably very angry as a result. The pair never fought in the comics, but they always could in the movie and keep in mind, we don’t know for sure that Jordan is playing a villain, so this is a very viable option, especially to possibly be a role that extends for more than one film.
2[4] Salamander K’Ruel
If Marvel wants to go with the more standard villain that T’Challa just needs to fight and dispose of in order to move onto the next film in the franchise, Salamander K’Ruel would be a logical choice, even though he may not be the most interesting. K’Ruel is essentially a lackey for Erik Killmonger, and when Black Panther and he face off in the comics, it is because Killmonger sends K’Ruel to punish T’Challa for raiding N’Jadaka’s village. K’Ruel is a well trained archer and hunter who does get the better ofT’Challain the comics, but because he didn’t finish the job, Black Panther managed to live on. Unless they change the backstory of the character, this would feel like a bit of a throw away for an actor like Jordan to play, but it is still possible.
1[5] Arcade
This is very unlikely, but could make for a very cool choice should the studio want to do something a bit off the beaten path. Arcade is sort of like Jigsaw from theSawmovies in that he makes very elaborate traps and games to try and defeat his enemies. Arcade has been contracted by many to kill various members of the Marvel universe, and it could make for a very different type of bad guy/good guy dynamic in theBlack Pantherfilm. The problem is, Jordan looks nothing like the character and Arcade isn’t specifically aBlack Panthervillain, but it would be fun and different.
Black Pantherisn’t hitting theaters for nearly 2 full years, so it may be quite some time before we actually find out who Jordan is playing.Doctor Strangeis coming out in November and we still don’t know what villainMads Mikkelsenis playing, so that may be an indicator we are in for a long wait. Do any of these villains make sense forBlack Panther? And doesMichael B. Jordanmake any sense for these villains.
