While the villains in a superhero movie normally draw the most criticism, there are some instances where the villain steals the show from the film’s hero. You can see that with Heath Ledger’s Joker in “The Dark Knight” and some would argue Josh Brolin’s Thanos in “Avengers: Infinity War.” But in some incredibly rare cases, both the villain and the hero are both amazing, as is the case in “Black Panther,” with Chadwick Boseman’s heroic T’Challa standing toe-to-toe with Michael B. Jordan’s villainous Killmonger. And though Jordan’s character did die at the end of the film, the actor is never saying never about possibly returning to the franchise.
Speaking to People, Jordan talked about the terrible loss of Chadwick Boseman last year and how that might affect the “Black Panther” franchise. And in talking about it, the actor revealed that he grew really close to the folks working on that film and would return if needed.
“That’s something that is very, very near and dear to my heart for a lot of obvious reasons,” said Jordan, “[I] had a really tough year losing somebody close to me. And what that means for that franchise is it was devastating.”
He added, “But being in that world in a character that I loved playing, and working with [writer-director Ryan Coogler] and all that good stuff, it’s family. We created a family over there. So to be able to be in that world again is something that, I think, will always be on the table in some capacity.”
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With Kevin Feige confirming that Boseman’s T’Challa character will not be recast and they will not be using CGI to replicate the actor in any way, the most obvious question is who will become the new Black Panther in the upcoming sequel that is expected to arrive next year? In the first film, Killmonger did take over the role, although he used the power for nefarious actions. However, there was a bit of redemption at the end. Perhaps through some comic book trickery, we could see Jordan’s character return and take over the mantle? Probably not likely, but you’d have a lot of fans excited to see Killmonger return in whatever capacity.
We likely won’t find out what’s happening with “Black Panther 2” until we get closer to that film’s release date of July 8, 2022.
