![]() Rather than let his brother kill Zuri, T'Chaka killed N'Jobu. During the confrontation N'Jobu drew his gun and aimed it at Zuri, a spy who had been reporting on his activities to T'Chaka. N'Jobu had come to America and become radicalized and he wanted to use the Wakandan technology and weapons to arm oppressed people across the globe to fight back. When T'Chaka was the Black Panther he learned that his brother, N'Jobu, had been working as a spy against the Wakandan government. In Black Panther, new Wakandan king, T'Challa, discovers a dark secret about his father, T'Chaka. While we've seen various types of megalomaniac, murderous deities, and bad siblings, none has come close to Killmonger in terms of a compelling backstory. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Killmonger is the most sympathetic of any MCU villain so far. ![]() And while the film has a nice message about working together and relying on one another, the Joker actually has a very good point: Batman, as a comic book superhero, is nothing without villains to fight.Įrik Killmonger's tragic backstory gives him depth and makes him sympathetic to audiences. ![]() All of the Joker's self-worth is wrapped up in his importance to Batman. The remainder of the movie is the Joker trying to prove to Batman that he needs him. Batman, refusing to believe he needs anyone in his life, even a supervillain foil, tells him that he doesn't do relationships, whether with friends or enemies. ![]() Later, in The Batman LEGO Movie, the Joker explicitly tells Batman that they need each other. In The Dark Knight, Batman squared off against his most iconic villain, the Joker, and while their relationship was ultimately less interesting than that of Wayne and Ra's al Ghul, the sublime performance of Heath Ledger gave the supervillain more depth and character than we'd ever seen before. The student must stop his teacher from unleashing mass destruction on the city. Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins is trained and brought up by Ra's al Ghul who we later learn is the mastermind behind all of Gotham's current calamities. It's complicated and fascinating, and that relationship between hero and villain makes the first season of The Flash quite wonderful.Įach of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight films relied heavily on a compelling villain to make them tick. There's real affection between him and Allen and it doesn't just go away after the revelation. And yet, despite this betrayal, and despite the fact that we learn he hates Allen and even killed Allen's mother and framed his father for the murder, we find ourselves deeply sympathetic with the man. He also turned out to be an impostor, Eobard Thawne, also known as the Reverse Flash, using Allen and his friends to return to his own time. The kindly, crippled genius became Barry Allen's mentor and guiding light, beloved by every member of Team Flash. In the CW's first season of The Flash, we got to know who we believed was Harrison Wells. That doesn't shine through much in The Avengers, but it's what motivates Thor to not merely destroy his brother, but bring him home to Asgard. Likewise, Loki was a far more interesting villain in The Avengers than Ultron was in Age of Ultron, simply because Loki-however wicked and devious he can be-has moments of real humanity and even courage. Vulture was a bad guy, but he was a bad guy you could relate to and Peter Parker ultimately decided he was worthy of mercy and that redemption was possible. Spider-Man: Homecoming worked largely because Vulture (Michael Keaton) was an interesting, sympathetic villain whose bad deeds grew out of injustices foisted upon him by Tony Stark. Look no further than some of the other best MCU films to get a sense of what I'm talking about. ![]() I have a theory about superhero stories: They're only ever as good as their villains. Killmonger (whose first name, admirably enough, is spelled with the proper fourth letter) makes what would have been a very good movie great instead. Behind Every Great Superhero Is A Great Supervillain ![]()
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