The minute that Killmonger seemed to meet his fate at the end of Black Panther, the questions began. How can Erik come back? Would Michael B. Jordan return to the Marvel world as Killmonger in some other way? And with things like Marvel’s What If…? we have gotten the chance to return to the character, but that hasn’t seemed to be enough for fans.
So the big question going around is whether or not we get to see Killmonger again in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, so … let’s answer it. Turn away now if you don’t want to know yet!
**Spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever lie ahead.**
So first off, yes. He’s in the movie—but not in the way you think. There wasn’t some magic done that makes Killmonger somehow alive. In fact, the movie doubles down on him being dead because the way we get to see him is in the ancestral plane.
Much like in Black Panther, when you do the ritual to become the Black Panther, you go to the ancestral plane to visit your ancestors and, for the most part, it is who you need to see. For T’Challa, it was his father. For Erik, it was his father. And for Shuri, she thought that she’d see her mother and be reunited to get the guidance she needed to take on Namor.
Instead, she sees Killmonger, who greets her with a cousin remark, and Shuri’s anger, while understandable, is why she was met with him instead of her mother or her brother. The scene starts with Shuri under water (in the same place where her mother died) and she is swimming to the Citadel’s throne room, where she instantly thinks her mother is waiting. Instead, she rounds the corner to see Michael B. Jordan in all white.
The reality is that Shuri is more like Killmonger than she wants to admit. T’Challa, as Killmonger points out, was too noble, and even Shuri says she’s not like her brother. It is, frankly, a perfect inclusion of Killmonger and does set up that if we return to the ancestral plane, we could see him again.
For now though, we got our brief return to Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Stevens, and what a treat it was.
(featured image: Marvel Entertainment)
