Black Panther's Winston Duke Teases M'Baku's Expanded Wakanda Forever Role

Winston Duke has revealed how his Black Panther: Wakanda Forever character M'Baku has changed since the events of 2018's Black Panther.

"I think the events of Infinity War and Endgame really showed that the Jabari are now full-fledged members of Wakanda," the actor told Collider. "M'Baku was a part of every single conflict; every event, and I don't think they could really exist in isolation anymore. They have open borders, and we saw that M'Baku was really Wakandan. His entire community has expanded." Duke's first appearance as M'Baku was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Panther where he showed up as a minor antagonist willing to fight King T'Challa for the right to rule Wakanda. He reprised his role in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War and 2019's Avengers: Endgame, acting as an ally to Black Panther and the Avengers during their battle against Thanos and his army on the Wakanda border.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever focuses on the leaders of Wakanda as they fight to protect their nation from intervening world powers in the wake of King T’Challa’s death. As the Wakandans strive to embrace their next chapter, the heroes must band together and forge a new path for the kingdom of Wakanda. The upcoming Marvel Studios film is the first MCU project featuring Black Panther to not involve Chadwick Boseman, who passed away in 2020 after a lengthy battle with colon cancer. The actor portrayed T'Challa in Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) as well as voiced variants of the character in the animated series What If...? (2021).

Namor Arrives in Wakanda Forever

Namor the Sub-Mariner, a character who has been hinted at existing in the MCU since 2010's Iron Man 2, will finally make his MCU debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, played by Tenoch Huerta. The upcoming sequel will mark the first time the character, who is King of Atlantis and a mutant, has appeared in a live-action project. Huerta had been rumored to be playing Namor since June 2021, but his casting was only confirmed when Marvel Studios debuted the first Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer at 2022's San Diego Comic-Con. The actor has since revealed that, while playing Namor has been "overwhelming," he is excited to be joining the MCU as a superhero.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever stars an ensemble cast that includes Duke, Huerta, Angela Bassett, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Freeman, Michaela Coel, Florence Kasumba, Dominique Thorne, Mabel Cadena and Alex Livinalli. The film opens in theaters on Nov. 11.