In the early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, their villains didn’t really offer much aside from the simple bad guy motif. The presentation wasn’t all too great either and it’s safe to say that they were fairly bland aside from Loki. However, now with Erik Killmonger from Black Panther and Thanos from Avengers: Infinity War, things are looking up for the MCU on the villain front.
It’s a shame we saw the end of Killmonger in Black Panther but Thanos is still alive and kicking to offer us more for Avengers 4. Granted, the latter served up one hell of a struggle for our heroes in Infinity War along with widespread genocide but it’s a wonder how different things would have been if Killmonger lived through the events of Black Panther. Michael B. Jordan, who plays the character has a few things to say about that.
Speaking to the A.V. Club during the MBJAM charity event, the actor was asked on how he would have fared dealing with the Mad Titan in Infinity War. To that, he said:
“This is the first I’m hearing of it. I think the one thing about Killmonger is he really plans his attacks, and they’re well thought out. So if he ever stepped in a situation with Thanos, he would feel confident that he had the upper hand—at the very least, he would know he had a shot. So I mean, we already know that Erik’s willing to sacrifice himself for a greater good, so I don’t think he’s ever fearful of losing his life. So I think if he ever stepped in front of Thanos, he’d already have a plan for taking him down.”
Killmonger may be a planner but Thanos is one powerful being. Maybe he would have given the Mad Titan a run for his money and probably offer the film a much different action set piece but it’s hard to say if his contribution would help beat him (probably not). It’s a shame he was killed off in Black Panther however cause he definitely would have been an interesting character to watch out for in the future. Then again, it’s probably good that Black Panther was his end since there is a chance they might milk the villain a little bit.
Despite being dead however, I wouldn’t necessarily rule out a resurrection for the character since his character is probably one of the most layered in the MCU. I guess only the future will tell… or not.
Source: A.V. Club
