The Mother of the Film’s Antagonist Was Supposed to Be Sprung from Jail
While Chadwick Boseman’s performance as King T’Challa in Black Panther garnered much praise, some Marvel fans would argue that it was Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger who really stole the show. Recently, the film’s director, Ryan Coogler, revealed even more info about the backstory of Black Panther’s terrifying adversary.
If you’ve seen Black Panther then you probably remember one of its earliest scenes involved several assault rifles laid out on a table and two men discussing a plan. Those two characters (who are both later revealed to be Killmonger’s father, N’Jobu and his “uncle” Zuri) were apparently planning to break Killmonger’s mom out of jail.
“The idea was when you see those guys talking over the paperwork in the beginning of the film, they’re talking about a way to break her out of jail,” Coogler explained to The Hollywood Reporter recently.
However, they never went forward with the plan: “The idea was they never got her out, and she passed away in prison, so Killmonger didn’t come up with a mom either,” Coogler added.
Killmonger is still definitely a bad guy but with this new information, I think he’s become a bit more sympathetic (or at the very least understandable). What do you think? Does this new info change how you view Killmonger? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Black Panther will be released digitally on May 8th and the DVD will be available on May 15th.