Black Panther Used Up T’Challa’s Biggest Villains
While the fate of Killmonger in Black Panther has thematic resonance and provides the character with a sympathetic arc, Klaue’s death was another example of Marvel killing off villains they’re done with at the moment. Like Crossbones, Klaue could have easily escaped to torment the MCU another day, especially if Killmonger had delivered him to W’Kabi as a prisoner rather than a corpse. Even better, his demise could have involved his sonic canon malfunctioning in some way, thus setting up his return as a villain composed of sound in the future.
Outside of Killmonger and Klaue, M’Bakuaka Man-Ape in the comicshas regularly vexed Black Panther. He began life as an Avengers villain before becoming a thorn in T’Challa’s side thanks to his ruling of the Jabari Mountain Clan. But after M’Baku suffers his defeat at the hands of T’Challa in the MCU, it’s clear he’s no longer a threat to the king. While more threats from inside Wakanda certainly have precedence in the comics, some of the most intriguing ones from a story standpoint follow another devastating attack from the outside. Just as Klaue’s initial raid on Wakanda changed the kingdom forever, so too did the invasion of Atlantis as lead by Namor. And if the MCU can bring some of that arc to life, the future of the Black Panther franchise will be unlike anything we’ve seen so far.
Namor Would Be Perfect For Black Panther 2’s Story
As Marvel built towards its first Civil War arc in the comics, Brian Michael Bendis introduced the Illuminati in the pages of New Avengers. Comprised of some of the greatest minds in the Marvel Universe, the group secretly gathered to determine the fate of the world by making calls they knew others wouldn’t. Namor, though not on the level of Tony Stark, Reed Richards, and Professor X, was nevertheless part of the original organization. Following Civil War, Marvel eventually introduced the Avengers vs X-Men arc that saw Namor attack Wakanda, where a number of Avengers were hiding out. Temporarily imbued with part of the Phoenix Force (as happens to some mutants from time to time), Namor brought massive tidal waves and the army of Atlantis down on the African nation. Though he was eventually defeated, untold citizens of Wakanda were killed in the process and things would never be the same.
Namor’s strength and the force of his army would provide a powerful enemy for T’Challa and Wakanda in the MCU, and the results of the invasion could have ramifications for years to come. In fact, following Namor’s defeat in the comics he is eventually brought back into the fold when T’Challa reforms the Illuminati to address the death of the Multiverse. Avengers: Infinity War is drawing from Jonathan Hickman’s comics that led to Secret Wars, so some take on this story could lay the foundation for a similar arc in the Black Panther franchise.
Namor’s attack was devastating enough, but Black Panther working with the Atlantean after the fact leads to his Dora Milaje abandoning him, his people revolting, and Wakanda shifting towards democracy. All of this has played out in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ run of Black Panther and is bound to influence the upcoming movies. All the franchise really needs is the introduction of Namor. The only problem is an all too familiar question of character’s rights.
Does Marvel Have Namor’s Character Rights?
Thanks to Marvel’s impending bankruptcy in the ’90s, they sold off the film rights to most of their characters. The positive was X-Men, Spider-Man, and Blade series all made it to the big screen. The downside, however, came when Marvel Studios was launched without some of its most well-known heroes and villains. In the years since, Marvel has regained Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and dozens more. Marvel didn’t own Black Panther’s film rights for a time either. But with the impending deal for Disney to buy Fox and the cooperation between Marvel and Sony, nearly every character will soon be available for the MCU. Namor, however, is a bit trickier.
Debuting in 1939’s Motion Picture Funnies Weekly, Namor the Sub-Mariner is one of Marvel’s oldest characters. Half-Atlantean and half-mutant, the character has super-strength and flight and could even control aquatic life for a time. He also commands the kingdom of Atlantis and its army, making him the Marvel equivalent of Aquamanthough Namor predates the DC hero by two years. He spent years fighting alongside Captain America and the Invaders during World War II, but he’s regularly served as an anti-hero and outright villain in many X-Men and Avengers stories.
On the film front, it was long assumed Universal owned the rights to Namor, something Kevin Feige confirmed in 2013. The next year, Feige elaborated on Namor’s film rights by saying it was complicated and Marvel shared the rights with Universal. Though Marvel has never been entirely clear about their character rights, it seems Namor is in a similar boat as Hulk. Universal owns his film distribution rights, but only when it comes to a solo movie. That’s why we haven’t seen a standalone Hulk film since 2008 but the character can still show up as a supporting character like in Avengers movies and Thor: Ragnarok.
Adding another wrinkle, however, was Joe Quesada claiming Marvel own Namor’s rights back in 2016, which was soon followed by a flurry of actors expressing their interest in the role. Evidence of a Namor movie even emerged last year during the production for Marvel’s Inhumans. The theory soon emerged that Namor would be an Inhuman in the MCU, thus allowing Marvel to avoid the idea of mutants. But with Fox’s characters about to return home, it may not be an issue much longer.
Black Panther 2 Is The Best Way To Introduce Namor
We’ve already laid out how Black Panther 2 could introduce Storm, but Namor would be even easier. If Marvel wants to go the mutant route, they shouldn’t be held back for much longer. If not, Namor’s powers could simply be explained by his Atlantean roots. Marvel could then seed the idea of mutants without needing to address them directly in Black Panther 2. Namor’s true heritage could then be revealed in a future film where the X-Men arrive in the MCU.
Black Panther already brought internal strife and questions of T’Challa’s fitness to rule into question, meaning the sequel needs to take a different approach. T’Chaka partially exposed Wakanda to the world and the result saw Killmonger attack. Avengers: Infinity War will make the kingdom a front for Thanos’ war and bring all sorts of outsides. Black Panther 2 will have to deal with these consequences and it could see Wakanda thriving as part of a larger world.
The appearance of Namor, fearing Wakanda’s expansion could threaten Atlantis, could bring a new foe to the nation’s door and lead to the citizens worrying that abandoning their isolation was a mistake. That would put Black Panther 3 in a interesting position to get even more political as it explores the fallout of everything that’s happened to Wakanda in the MCU so far. And if we see T’Challa and Namor work together to stop the next big threat to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it could be the beginning of the end for the new king and a way for Shuri to step up and take the throne. With the comics as inspiration, there’s a number of directions the series could go in, but adding Namor as the villain of Black Panther 2 could be the most exciting path.
MORE: Every Black Panther Character Returning In Avengers: Infinity War
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