One of the things that had plagued the Marvel Cinematic Universe despite their entertaining films were the poorly crafted villains. Obadiah Stane, Whiplash, The Mandarin, Ronin, Yellowjacket, Malekith, these were antagonists designed to be the clear-cut bad guy for the hero to defeat. There was nothing complex about them nor were they that memorable. And then the minds behind the MCU decided to change that narrative, creating villains that not only had intriguing storylines but who actually gave the heroes a run for their money.
Two such villains that I found to be absolutely extraordinary and really likable were Erik Killmonger and Mysterio.
From a certain point of view, you could almost interpret Killmonger as the underrated hero of the story as he seeks to avenge his father’s murder and liberate disenfranchised black people all over the world, albeit by violent means.
Of course, his ways were radical and he had to be stopped from waging war on the world but his goals were comprehensible and when he was defeated by T’Challa I can’t help feeling sorry for him.
He supposedly dies with T’Challa watching over him but…being the stubborn Killmonger fan that I am, I don’t think he’s dead.
We’ve seen the Wakandans nurse people back to life with their incredible medicinal and scientific ways and just because we saw Killmonger lose consciousness doesn’t mean it’s clear fact that he’s dead.
For all we know, T’Challa took Killmonger and hurried him to the infirmary where the doctors nursed him back to health. Of course, that would be kind of wrong considering that Killmonger distinctly said he didn’t want to be forced into bondage but…I still have hope that he, like Loki, will return as a reluctant hero in the Black Panther sequel.
And then there’s Mysterio who met his match in Spider-Man. Spider-Man would defeat him but not before Mysterio left an impactful mark on Peter Parker by releasing his true identity to the world.
We see Mysterio “die” but how do we know he’s actually dead? We know he’s known for being a trickster so why wouldn’t he fake his death, slink into the shadows, and emerge in Spider-Man 3 with a gang of baddies to take Spider-Man on?
And…considering that we did get a bit of a heroic take on Mysterio for a little bit before he went truly bad, what if something happens and he does become a bit of a hero? Wouldn’t that be a plot twist?!
All in all, yes, these antagonists could be officially dead but they could also be very much alive and I’m hoping that Marvel Studios understands the gems they have with these characters and can utilize them in future stories in particularly creative and exciting ways.
I thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day.
Annlyel Online 
In all honesty, I haven’t even watched the standalone Spider Man movies since Tobey Maguire. They just… rebooted it too quickly from one actor to the next, and I wasn’t interested in re-following it with each shift. I’ve seen “Into the Spiderverse” and Holland’s appearances in the main MCU, and that’s about it. I couldn’t independently verify that Andrew Garfield ever starred in a movie. 😛
Killmonger was an interesting character. My wife related that she cried when he died. It’s definitely an emotional sequence, because although he’s clearly not a hero and he does a good job of establishing that he really, really shouldn’t be taking over as the Black Panther once you see what he does with his power, he’s still fairly sympathetic. I would imagine he’s probably dead — more likely so than Mysterio. What I remember of Mysterio was almost Descartian in the level of perceptual fog he creates around him. Killmonger’s more straight forward. Maybe T’Challa takes the trouble of reviving him, but I have a little trouble believing he’d keep someone alive against their wishes.
But, hey… if Disney wants to make more money off the character, he’ll be alive. I mean, if WB can seriously contemplate bringing back Nicholson’s Joker after we see him splattered across the pavement, there’s plenty of room to figure they made a mad dash to save Killmonger.
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😂 Yeah…I kind of think it’s hard to believe that T’Challa would go against Erik’s wishes like that to keep him alive for personal or selfish reasons but maybe that would add some depth to his story.
One of the criticisms of Black Panther back when it first came out was that T’Challa was toooo heroic (I don’t see why that’s a problem. So was Captain America in The First Avenger.) Maybe he needs to make some sort of decision that goes against his moral code so he can win over those critics who want to see a little bit of spice added to his story.
Maybe…if Storm does make her MCU debut in this film…maybe T’Challa begins to have feelings for her which would make Nakia SUPER angry and eventually transform her into her comic book alias, Malice. We’ve never seen a romance in the MCU that involves a conflicted love triangle. Come on, Disney. Let’s make things interesting.
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Heh. I’m going to have to do my best Picard impression and go, “make it so!” If they do, though, I hope they find a good Storm that can follow Halle Berry. Maybe the script didn’t give her the greatest part to work with, but visually… you don’t get much better looking than that. Who knows, maybe she was even too beautiful for the role, but I guess if we’re looking at a love interest then this should be a thing? 😓
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Halle Berry is the best Storm there has been on the big screen…for sure, but I have confidence that the MCU can create an even greater one.
There was speculation that Janelle Monae could play her and someone created some fan art to show what that would look like.
I think Monae would be a fantastic Storm, albeit a lot sterner than previous renditions of the character.
I also thought that Gugu Mbatha-Raw would be a great Storm and she is beautiful so…that works.
We’ll see what Marvel Studios does and I can’t wait!
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