Step aside, all other Marvel villains, Erik “Killmonger” Stevens (Michael B. Jordan) is still the king of the comic book movie villains.
The villain was one of the best parts of an already exquisite superhero film in Black Panther, but (spoilers) the film saw him meet his end at the end of the film. After delivering one of the most powerful lines in Marvel history—”Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from the ships, because they knew death was better than bondage.”—Killmonger died looking at a Wakandan sunset, sitting next to his cousin T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman).
However, we should know by now to never assume that anyone stays dead in comics though. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, as reported by Comic Book Movie, Angela Bassett (who plays Queen Ramonda in the film) and her husband Courtney B. Vance were asked about the sequel. While Bassett tried to play coy, Vance said that everyone would be back, including Jordan.
How could Killmonger return? One such way is if T’Challa re-visits the ancestral plane and finds Killmonger there. Both T’Challa and Killmonger visited the ancestral plane, where they were able to have conversations with their fathers. T’Challa could visit the ancestral plane to see Killmonger, though it would most likely mean that Jordan would be getting more of a cameo appearance than anything else, which might be best for the story.
Given that Avengers: Endgame is supposed to involve time travel, Killmonger could also return if the timeline is somehow impacted and his death never occurs. Given that T’Challa was dusted at the end of Avengers: Infinity War and will almost definitely be brought back via some sort of time-travel or undoing Thanos’s snap. It stands to reason that in some way, they could change the timeline in such a way that Killmonger is still alive.
Of course, there is also the go-to resurrection. The old saying in comic books is that “no one stays dead except Bucky, Jason Todd and Uncle Ben” and look what happened to the first two? Everyone tends to come back somehow, no matter how permanent their deaths seem. Killmonger could have been saved by Shuri or Wakandan technology somehow, and as a result will get a second chance to steal the show. However, that leaves the question of whether Killmonger’s initial death scene will still hold an impact if he’s saved somehow and brought back via medicine or technology.
We still don’t know for sure if Killmonger is coming back; the husband of one of the actresses in the film is a bit of a secondhand source. But given the praise for Jordan’s turn and the character himself, it might make sense for him to return in some capacity for the second film. With the film’s box office returns, Oscar nominations, and role in the culture, a sequel is all but guaranteed, and we’ll know sooner rather than later if Jordan is actually returning.
(via Comic Book Movie, image: Marvel)
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