When Chadwick Boseman finally takes center stage in Ryan Coogler's BLACK PANTHER, he'll have more than one villain to contend with. Variety reports that Winston Duke (Person of Interest) has been chosen for the role of M'Baku, a super-villain and enemy to Black Panther who also goes by Man-Ape.
M'Baku was one of Wakanda's greatest and most powerful warriors, second only to Black Panther himself, before his plot to usurp the throne revealed his true motives. After killing and consuming one of the rare white gorilla's of Wakanda, M'Baku gained superhuman strength, speed and stamina and became Man-Ape. Variety reports that Marvel had been testing actors for this "key role" for the past week before finally deciding on Winston Duke. In addition to M'Baku, Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) will also serve to threaten T'Challa's rule of Wakanda. Production on BLACK PANTHER is set to begin early next year, so I'd imagine that we'll be hearing more about how M'Baku figures into the plot before long.
The young actor is still relatively new to the scene but has appeared in roles on Major Crimes, The Messengers and Person of Interest. As I have seen exactly zero installments of those series, I'll leave it up to those of you who have to decide if he has what it takes to go up against T'Challa. BLACK PANTHER will hit theaters on February 16, 2018.
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