‘Black Panther’ director Ryan Coogler has revealed what really happened to Erik ‘Killmonger’ Stevens’ mother.
Michael B. Jordan stars as the antagonist in the Marvel movie and before the events of the film, Prince N’Jobu, brother of the King of Wakanda, fell in love with a woman in Oakland and they had a baby named Erik.
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Through his love for Erik’s mother, N’Jobu changed his mind about the people outside Wakanda and decided to help them. At the beginning of the movie, a young version of N’Jobu and Forest Whitaker’s character, Zuri can be seen formulating a plan in an Oakland apartment.
Speaking during the commentary for the ‘Black Panther’ Blu-ray, Coogler explained: “The idea was when you see those guys talking over the paperwork at the beginning of the film, they’re talking about a way to break her out of jail. The idea was they never got her out, and she passed away in prison, so Killmonger didn’t come up with a mom either.”
King T’Chaka later killed his brother, after discovering he had been planning to arm the oppressed people of the world with Vibranium and he left Erik alone in Oakland to hide what he had done.
And Michael previously revealed he was taken to a “dark place” when he took on the role of Killmonger. He said: “It took me to a dark place. Honestly, I can’t really go through all I went through to get into it because I want to keep that close to me. But it stuck with me afterward… Chadwick [Boseman] is a very talented dude. There’s a lot of physical moments and action sequences throughout this film that causes us to really challenge ourselves, and also fall deeper into character.”
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The production has been praised for its predominately black cast including Forest Whittaker, Lupita Nyong’o, and Danai Gurira, but Michael said “everybody” can relate to the film in some way.
He explained: “It’s an all-black cast for the most part and it’s set in Africa, but it’s universal in so many ways to everybody around the world, so I feel like it’s something that everybody can take something from.”
