Villain or Not, Connecting with Killmonger
“Two billion people all over the world who look like us whose lives are much harder, and Wakanda has the tools to liberate them all,” Killmonger said to the Wakandan court. This statement struck a chord with me when I watched the Black Panther movie. Black Panther showed us what an African country looks like when it was not affected by slavery, colonialism and the theft of its resources. The movie also addressed the struggles Black people experience all over the world. In America, and all over the world, this oppression continues until today. Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about the White moderate and explained by remaining silent they are choosing to accept racism. Killmonger felt the same way about the people of Wakanda. Wakanda chose to remain silent as billions of Black people all over the world suffered. Killmonger took it upon himself to free all Black people over the world from their oppressors.
Killmonger instantly became my favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) villain after watching Black Panther. I connected with him so much that I had to ask the question: was he really a villain? At worst he should be considered an anti-hero. We have White celebrated anti-heroes such as Frank Castle that have no problem killing anyone he deemed bad, while leaving a blood trail in his wake. He was just as ruthless and justifies his murder because he is killing people who are bad. Killmonger’s backstory is something more Black people connect with and is more damaging than what Frank Castle experienced. His character is more complex. Castle experienced a traumatic event leading to a life of vengeance whereas Killmonger experienced a life full of trauma due to the color of his skin. Killmonger found his father murdered as a child, while he was planning to free his mother who was in jail. He was abandoned by his own uncle and became an orphan. He grew up in Oakland where he witnessed and lived a life of oppression daily. This contributed to his violent views as a way of reaching Black liberation. He was angry and we felt his anger as he spoke with the same frustration that Black people all over the world can relate to. Killmonger witnessed drug addiction, mass incarceration, poverty and police brutality. He was broken as a boy and watched Black people suffer his entire life. This left him filled with rage and with one singular purpose. We cannot accept Frank Castle’s actions while not understanding what created Killmonger. He grew up in poverty and faced the same plight as Blacks in America today.
N’Jobu, Killmonger’s father, was murdered by his own brother after he facilitated the theft of vibranium from Wakanda in an attempt to use it to free Black people from their oppressors. N’Jobu told his brother T’Chaka, the King of Wakanda, just how bad the Black people have it in America and the king chose not only to do nothing to help but instead killed his brother and abandoned his nephew. Killmonger was continuing his father’s plan in his own way. He had a purpose, to liberate all Black people in the world. He could have arrived in Wakanda and devised a plan with T’Challa to liberate Black people instead of fighting? He preferred an approach of dominance and control versus diplomacy as he learned how the oppressors dominated by using military action and he would use this war strategy to overthrow their leaders.
Killmonger had some great points. Black people have had to endure systemic racism and oppression outside of Wakanda. Killmonger was not only angry with White supremacist but also to the Black elite that abandoned him. For this he wanted liberation and vengeance. I don’t agree with the idea to kill in the name of Black liberation but he was spot on with the problem of how Wakanda’s isolationism led to the abandonment of Black people. Although his anger was misplaced, he was doing it to benefit the lives of Black people all over the world and he was going to do this by any means necessary. Similarly to how it took the video of George Floyd being lynched for people to wake up, it took T’Challa being confronted by Killmonger for the right to rule Wakanda to wake up to Black suffering all over the world.
“Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, cause they knew death was better than bondage.” Killmonger may have been a villain but he had a cause that many people identified with and that is the liberation of Black people all over the world.
Where was Wakanda when many of their African brothers and sisters were being captured and sold into slavery through the Atlantic slave trade?
Killmonger was a hero in Black Panther. I say this because he was the reason T’Challa realized that it was his duty to help Black people all over the world. In the end T’Challa chastised his ancestors for turning their back on the world and for leaving Killmonger behind. Killmonger forced him to question whether his father and previous kings were right. He chose to share his wealth and technology and build outreach centers in places like Oakland. In this case Killmonger was a protester that changed everything.
