Appearance Spotlight: Killmonger

Black Panther's Killmonger is easily among the best Marvel Cinematic Universe villains, due to a combination of a sympathetic backstory and goal and being played by the charismatic Michael B. Jordan.

In the comics, Killmonger's backstory is pretty much the same although his goal is exactly the opposite (making Wakanda even more isolationist rather than sharing its technology with the world), but another important difference is their appearance. While the movie's Killmonger where's a leopard-inspired take on  Black Panther's armor...

...the comics version of Killmonger goes for more a gladiator-esque look.

And that's still true today, for this Killmonger. But it's not true for another Killmonger. See, in Black Panther volume 7 by Ta-Nehisi Coates establishes an "Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda" that's some combination of in another reality and 2000 years in the future. I'm a little unclear based on what I could find online. Regardless, many of the people in this storyline share their names with Wakandans we know, including Emperor N'Jadaka, who's named after Killmonger. And his armor looks like this:

Note that it's not an exact recreation, and the MCU's Killmonger certainly doesn't have a cape made from a Symbiote, but it's still close enough that it's easy to tell what they were going for.

Appearance Spotlight: Killmonger’s Scars

I don't know if you've heard, but Black Panther - which came out all the way back in February 2018, almost a year ago - is a pretty big deal. It's the most successful MCU domestically, even beating all the Avengers films; it's the ninth most successful movie of all time worldwide (it doesn't beat the Avengers movies there); it's appearing on every "top 10 movies of 2018" list; it was nominated for a Best Picture Golden Globe; and most importantly, it was a cultural revolution.

So, of course, it elevated the status of all characters associated with it, turning them into household names. Not least among these was Killmonger, a character many call Marvel's best. It's no surprise, then, that Killmonger received a miniseries last month to delve into his origins, and it's even less of a surprise that this new story is influenced a bit by Black Panther.

When Killmonger first appeared in Jungle Action #6 (July 1973), he had a look similar to Kraven's in that it's like a tribal warrior look filtered through superhero comics.

He keeps that basic look throughout his history, though it becomes more involved and gains a mask.

But this style didn't carry through to the Black Panther movie. That movie got him looking straight like Vegeta. But it added a new detail, too: in keeping with the afro-futuristic design sense the movie went for, the Earth-199999 version of Killmonger had ritual scarring, one bump for each person he's killed.

On the first page of Killmonger #1 (December 2018), we see him with the same scarring:

The rest of the series is a flashback, so this is the only time we've seen it so far. But with three issues still to come, I imagine we'll see him get them at some point.

Just A Small Little Thing: Okoye’s Hairstyle

Sometimes canon immigrants are big, like last week's Nuclear Man. But just as often, they're just a small detail that doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things and might not stick around, but it still counts. This is one of the latter ones.

Okoye is a member of the Dora Milaje, Black Panther's bodyguards. When she first appeared in Black Panther #1 (September 1998), she looked like this:

In Black Panther #62 (July 2003), her last appearance for a long time, she looked essentially the same:

When Black Panther the film came out (February 2018), she was included but she had a much different style more in line with African culture, as did the rest of the movie:

And so, of course, when Black Panther #171 was released in March 2018, not only did Okoye return, but she suddenly looked a lot more like her movie counterpart:

When I first saw the image I thought she was just bald now, but looking at it again, I can see that she even has the cranial tattoos of the film version.

Wakanda Salute

Canon immigrants happen for all kinds of reasons. The two most common are that the creators are homaging an adaptation they loved (usually as kids) or that the creators are trying to create synergy with a new adaptation for various reasons. Occasionally, like with the hit movie Black Panther, it's both.

Black Panther, to put it simply, was a phenomenon. It made more money in the US than Marvel's The Avengers, it has a chance of beating The Avengers in the "adjusted for inflation" category, and it just. won't. leave. the theatre. It was released on February 16, 2018, and as of this writing, it's still there! Keep in mind that Avengers: Infinity War was released A MONTH ago. It was released on dvd THREE WEEKS ago. This just doesn't happen. The only reason it would still be in theatres at this point is if it's still making money, and to still be doing that at this stage is a testament to how successful it is.

The movie was a cultural success as well. And one of the things that started popping up from the movie the most was the "Wakanda Forever" salute. Here's an example from the movie:

And here are some examples from real life:

It's no surprise, then, that it didn't take long to make it into the comics, as seen here in Black Panther #171 (March 2018):

Note that it's expressed with a "Hail Wakanda!" instead of "Wakanda Forever!", but the sentiment is still there.