After the initial burst of casting news that greeted the Black Panther movie at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, things seem to have gone relatively quiet on that front of late. Now, we are happy to say that we finally have something to report, as Winston Duke has been cast as the villainous M’Baku, more commonly known to fans of the comic-books as Man-Ape.
Created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, and first introduced in Avengers #62 in March 1969, Man-Ape is traditionally one of T’Challa’s most formidable recurring foes, possing similar abilities to the Black Panther, which he uses to regularly attempt to usurp his rule of Wakanda and return it to a more primitive state. Reguarly beaten by the Panther, he later goes on to oppose the Avengers as a member of the Lethal Legion and Masters of Evil, so there’s every chance that this could become a recurring MCU role.
Regardless, we’ll expect him to play second fiddle to Michael B Jordan’s Eric Killmonger in the villainous states this time around – as good as Duke is, his TV credits aren’t as extensive as Jordan’s currently counting roles in The Messengers, Person Of Interest, Law & Order and Major Crimes to his name.
Duke joins a cast that already includes Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther, Michael B Jordan as Eric Killmonger, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia and Danai Gurira as Okoye, with Andy Serkis heavily rumoured to be reprising his role as Ulysses Klau from Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Ryan Coogler is directing, in addition to co-writing the script with Joe Robert Cole, with Kevin Feige serving as producer.
Black Panther will be released in cinemas on 9 February 2018. You can download The 25 Greatest Marvel Comics Ever digital edition from GreatDigitalMags.com now. For more news about the latest movies, pick up the new issue of SciFiNow.
