“We don’t call him Man-Ape,” executive producer Nate Moore said. “We do
call him M’Baku. Having a black character dress up as an ape, I think
there’s a lot of racial implications that don’t sit well, if done wrong.
But the idea that they worship the gorilla gods is interesting because
it’s a movie about the Black Panther who, himself, is a sort of deity in
his own right.”
“You learn that M’Baku is essentially the head of the
religious minority in Wakanda and we thought that was interesting,”
Moore said. “Wakanda is not a monolithic place. They have a lot of
different factions.”
Director Ryan Coogler also spoke about how M’Baku evolved as a
character when the writers began to treat Wakanda like it was an actual
place in Africa.
“A lot of the writers who did some of the most
interesting work around the character, they treated Wakanda like a truly
African country,” Coogler said. “When you go to countries in Africa,
you’ll find several tribes, who speak their own languages, have their
own culture, and have distinct food and way of dress. They live amongst
each other, and together they make the identity of those countries.
That’s something we tried to capture. We wanted it to feel like a
country, as opposed to just one city or town.”
“In M’Baku’s worldview, T’Chaka made a huge mistake going to the U.N.,”
Moore says. “‘We should never engage with the outside world. That’s a
terrible mistake. And if his son is anything like his father, I don’t
support him being on the throne.’ Politically, he just has different
ideology,” says Moore, who compares the mountain tribe to one of the
deadly rival “five families” in The Godfather. “Man-Ape is a problematic
character for a lot of reasons, but the idea behind Man-Ape we thought
was really fascinating. … It’s a line I think we’re walking, and
hopefully walking successfully.”
… dare we hope that Marvel is (a) learning the value of worldbuilding and (b) losing a little of their tone-deafness? Marvel’s clearly aware that some of their older comics canon has not aged gracefully in terms of social mores, but they have at times put their foot squarely in their mouths when trying to do the right thing. Perhaps being up-front about what and why instead of doing damage control afterward is a sign of a lesson learned?
Even though T’Challa is the one who inherited the Black Panther mantle, he’s not the only talented member of his family. When the Black Panther movie is released early next year, we’ll meet many of the hero’s allies in Wakanda, including his sister, Shuri. Played by Humans star Letitia Wright, Shuri won’t just be supporting T’Challa as he attends to his royal and superhero duties. She’ll also be developing important technology for Wakanda. According to Wright:
“She’s princess of Wakanda, but also she designs all of the new technology there. She has an innovative spirit and an innovative mind, and she wants to take Wakanda to a new place. Also, she has a great fashion sense, better than mine. She’s so vibrant; a beautiful spirit, but also so focused on what she does. And that’s good for other people to see, especially for young people to see, because it’s like, ‘Look, there’s a young black girl who loves technology and she’s from Africa.’ It’s something refreshing.”
Letitia Wright provided this description of what Black Panther’s Shuri will be like while talking with Interview Magazine, describing the character as one of the brightest minds Wakanda has to offer. Just like in the Marvel Comics universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Wakanda is the most technologically advanced nation on Earth, and it sounds like in recent years, we have Shuri to thank for some of those achievements.
Steel Phoenix Studios 