Creed and Sinners star Michael B. Jordan first played Erik Killmonger in 2018's Black Panther, and still ranks among the MCU's best villains. He later returned for a brief cameo in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and transformed into "Infinity Killmonger" in Marvel Animation's What If...?
Jordan went to some dark places as Killmonger in that first Ryan Coogler-directed movie, and it turns out that immersing himself in the role left a lasting impact on the actor.
"After the movie, it kind of stuck with me for a bit," Jordan says in the video below. "Went to therapy, talked about it, found a way to kind of just decompress. And I think at that point, I was still learning that I needed to decompress from a character. You know, there’s no blueprint to this."
He added, "Acting is a solo journey a lot of times. Auditioning by yourself, practising by yourself. There’s a lot of preparation and the experience and the journey. So learning as I went, I [realised] that, 'Oh man, I still got a little something on me I need to get off.' You know, talking is really important."
Reflecting on how he prepared for the role, Jordan admitted that he "isolated" himself and "didn't really speak" to his family. Expanding on how that helped, he said, "Erik didn’t really know a lot of love. I think Erik didn’t experience that. He had a lot of betrayal, a lot of failed systems around him that shaped him and his anger and his frustration."
"And looking at history and how it would seem to always repeat itself, and how was he going to break that cycle," Jordan concluded.
There was speculation that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever might reveal that T'Challa's cousin was still alive before making him the next Black Panther. Instead, he appeared before Shuri in the Ancestral Plane, encouraging her to embark on a mission of revenge against Namor.
At the end of 2024, The Cosmic Circus reported, "Michael B. Jordan may be returning for one of the upcoming Avengers films." The site strongly hinted that he'll suit up as "Black Panther" in either Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, an undeniably intriguing development.
Killmonger's What If...? Variant is out there somewhere, and seeing as he's wielded the Infinity Stones, it would be a lot of fun watching what that version of the character brings to the table.
Check out the full interview with Jordan in the player below.