Erik Stevens, also known as Killmonger, is the primary antagonist of Black Panther. Based on the Marvel Comics villain, he was the son of the Wakandan prince N'Jobu, born outside of his homeland. Following the murder of his father by his uncle T'Chaka, Erik spent his life training and preparing for the day when he could avenge his father and fulfill his goal of leading an African revolution against the rest of the world. He was portrayed by Michael B. Jordan.
Biography[]
Childhood[]
Erik Stevens was born to the name N'Jadaka and was the son of Wakandan prince and War Dog, N'Jobu, and an American woman. While growing up in Oakland, California, his mother was wrongfully incarcerated and would spend the rest of her life in prison. His father would teach him about Wakanda and promised to one day take him there. During this time, young Erik would discover his father's hidden cache of Wakandan scriptures which included the secret of how to enter the hidden nation.
In 1992, Erik's father planned to share the weapons of Wakanda with the rest of the world so the African-Americans who had so little power could rise up and fight back. To achieve this goal, N'Jobu made an alliance with a mercenary named Ulysses Klaue to get into Wakanda and steal their vibranium deposits. Klaue's actions resulted in the deaths of several Wakandans, but Erik was unaware of this and continued life as normal. One fateful day, however, Erik was out playing basketball with the neighbourhood children while his father was being confronted in his apartment by his brother T'Chaka, the king of Wakanda. Having learned from his spy Zuri that N'Jobu had betrayed Wakanda, T'Chaka killed his brother and then left aboard his Royal Talon. Erik had seen the faint light of the aircraft moving away from his apartment complex and ran home to find his father lying dead upon the floor. Discovering his father's diary, Erik learned more about Wakanda, his heritage, and his father's plans for starting an African revolution, and vowed to fulfill this plan himself.
Becoming the Killmonger[]
Growing up with top marks in school, Erik went on to attend and graduate from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before joining the United States Navy SEALs. Within the SEAL teams, Stevens was deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Africa, where he had the highest count of confirmed kills amongst everyone from his unit. He also participated in several stateside missions in the United States of America. Eventually, Erik was recruited into a Joint Special Operations Command ghost unit associated with the CIA as a highly skilled black ops mercenary. Operating within the JSOC unit, he went off the grid in order to commit assassinations and take down foreign governments on behalf of the United States. As a highly-skilled soldier, Erik was responsible for eliminating dozens of hostiles, cutting his skin with tribal crocodile scarring, with one for each kill. Due to his ruthlessness while serving within the military, he eventually earned the nickname "Killmonger."
Working with Klaue[]
In 2016, seeking to enact his plan to return to Wakanda, Killmonger struck a deal with Ulysses Klaue, who previously worked with his father and had his own history with Wakanda. Together, they had discovered a vibranium weapon which was being shown in the Museum of Great Britain. Killmonger and Klaue made a plan to steal the weapon for themselves, as Killmonger went to investigate personally by going undercover. His girlfriend and accomplice Linda had also infiltrated the museum as a barista and had made a poisoned beverage for one of the museum curators on the day of the heist. When the curator began to succumb to the poison, Klaue and his underlings entered the museum disguised as paramedics, killing the security guards and smashing the display case containing the vibranium axe. Killmonger pretended to be injured by lying down on the ambulance stretcher and letting Klaue and his henchmen wheel him out of the museum with both the axe and also a ceremonial Dogon mask. The mask wasn't a part of the plan, Killmonger just liked it.
Some time later, Klaue had attempted to sell the vibranium axe head to a buyer in Busan, South Korea. Unsurprising to Killmonger, the deal went south and Klaue was captured by T'Challa, the current Black Panther, and CIA agent Everett Ross. Killmonger later raided the CIA black-site where Klaue was being held and rescued him, taking him to a junkyard where the group's getaway plane was waiting. Killmonger told Klaue to drop him off in Wakanda, but Klaue refused, warning him against going there. At that point, Killmonger turned on Klaue and shot his henchman, but Klaue grabbed Linda and took her hostage. This was of little concern to Killmonger, who shot through Linda to get at Klaue. Klaue tried to run, but was shot and wounded. As Klaue lay bleeding, Killmonger revealed a tattoo on his inner lower lip, marking him as a member of Wakandan royalty. Klaue laughed at this before Killmonger finished him off with one last gunshot.
Taking the throne[]
Killmonger then travelled to Wakanda, bringing Klaue's body with him. Arriving at the Wakandan border, he was met by W'Kabi and his soldiers, showing them Klaue's body and requesting an audience with King T'Challa. He was brought to the palace where he revealed his true identity to the royal family and stated that he had a claim to the throne, telling T'Challa about how T'Chaka had killed his father years ago and berating him about how Wakanda's policy on isolation was causing those of African descent to suffer under oppression around the globe. After discussing the situation with Zuri and confirming Killmonger's story, T'Challa agreed that his newfound cousin did have a claim to the throne, and so he and Killmonger prepared to face each other at Warrior Falls in ritual combat.
At the Falls, T'Challa drank the serum that stripped him of the Black Panther's power. He and Killmonger removed their garments, with Killmonger revealing the countless crocodile scars covering his body, one for each life he had taken. Given a sword and spear, the two fought each other as the Tribal Council watched. Killmonger furiously charged at T'Challa and began swinging his weapons at his enemy, with T'Challa being immediately on the defensive as Killmonger used every ounce of strength to land a deadly blow against him. All of Killmonger's military training allowed him to push T'Challa back, but he soon realized T'Challa's true skills with the tribal weapons as he managed to lock Killmonger into a block and held him back, using his shield to his advantage.
Becoming frustrated, Killmonger landed several heavy strikes against T'Challa, repeatedly striking his shield as he leaped through the air and attempt to beat T'Challa into submission. However, T'Challa was able to use all Killmonger's rage against him as he knocked him off balance and onto his back, threatening to kill him if Killmonger did not yield the duel. Killmonger, however, refused to back down once he got back onto his feet, as T'Challa continued gaining the advantage as he sliced Killmonger across the face with a non-fatal strike.
Angered by T'Challa's advantage, Killmonger had furiously continued fighting, as he was eventually able to land a heavy kick and managed to slice T'Challa across his inner thigh. While Shuri still shouted out encouragement to her brother, Killmonger had continued beating him down before managing to slice him across the chest and arm, which caused T'Challa considerable pain. When T'Challa attempted to punch Killmonger, he responded by impaling him with his spear. With T'Challa now mortally wounded, Killmonger continued to beat him in front of his horrified family. At this point, Zuri stepped in and tried to stop the fight, confessing his involvement with the death of Killmonger's father and offering up his life in T'Challa's place. Killmonger stated that he would simply kill both of them and stabbed Zuri with his spear.
Enraged by Zuri's murder, T'Challa attempted to strike back, but Killmonger easily overpowered the wounded king. Killmonger declared that T'Challa was weak and unfit to rule before lifting him off the floor and raising him over his head. He then threw T'Challa over the falls, seemingly to his death, while Princess Shuri and Queen Mother Ramonda watched in horror. Standing victorious, Killmonger told those watching that he was now their one true king, while Nakia had pulled the devastated Ramonda and Shuri away to safety before Killmonger could have them arrested to ensure his own power over Wakanda. Killmonger was then presented with the royal necklace before the Border Tribe and the Dora Milaje saluted the newest King of Wakanda while Killmonger looked over his subjects.
King of Wakanda[]
As per tradition, Killmonger entered the City of the Dead and took of the Heart-Shaped Herb that would grant him the strength of the Black Panther. He was ritually buried in red sand as the herb took effect and he experienced a vision of the Ancestral Plane, where he met with the spirit of his father N'Jobu. To Killmonger, he appeared to be back in his old apartment in Oakland. N'Jobu's spirit spoke to Killmonger and asked what he found, Killmonger responded by saying that he's looking for his home. N'Jobu was saving his secret in hopes he'll find his home but was afraid that they won't take him in. Killmonger retorts by telling his father that maybe his home was lost and that is why they can't find him and his father.
Killmonger then awoke, emerging from the sands in shock. The shaman told him to breathe and explained the ritual to him, telling him that the herbs were planted for all future kings. Killmonger scoffed at this and ordered that the herb garden be burned. When the shaman objected and said that it went against tradition, Killmonger grabbed her by the throat, making it clear that he didn't care about tradition and reiterated his order. He watched over the shamans as they went about burning the garden, thereby cementing his position as king and ensuring that no one would ever oppose him. However, Nakia was able to sneak into the garden and take a herb before it was all destroyed.
The next day, Killmonger took to the throne and discussed his plans going forward. He explained how he had grown up in America, witnessed how black people had been oppressed without the means to fight back, and decreed that Wakanda would allow African descendants to rise up against persecution by providing them with vibranium-based weapons. He planned to ship out weapons to Wakanda's various War Dogs around the world and have them distribute the weapons to African communities so that they could rise up and kill those in power. Okoye objected to this decision, but W'Kabi countered that the world was changing and it would be enough for the outsiders to catch up, saying that it would soon be the conquerors or conquered.
Final battle and death[]
With all of Wakanda finally under his iron fist, Killmonger proceeded to prepare shipments of Wakandan weapons to be distributed to operatives around the world to finish what his father started. Fortunately, T'Challa was rescued by the Jabari Tribe (led by M'Baku, who was indebted towards T'Challa for sparing his life), and healed with the heart-shaped herb smuggled away by Nakia. As such, T'Challa and the Jabari Tribe conspired to overthrow Killmonger and stop the shipments.
As the Dora Milaje and Jabari Tribe engaged in a battle against W'Kabi and his army, Killmonger donned his new Panther Habit and engaged into another battle against T'Challa inside Wakanda's vibranium mine. The two adversaries possessed the same boons granted by the herb and their Black Panther suits, but Killmonger was the more experienced warrior. However, T'Challa was able to disrupt Killmonger's battle suit using a sonic mining technology and fatally stabbing him. Despite being mortally injured, Killmonger gained a genuine respect for T'Challa and called the final blow one "hell of a move." He lamented that his father had always promised to show him how amazing the Wakandan country was, and T'Challa decided to honour his opponent's request.
Being transported to the breathtaking view of the capital during sunset, Killmonger commented on its beauty. T'Challa, feeling remorse for what Killmonger had become, said that they might still be able to heal him, but Killmonger chose to die rather than be cured and imprisoned in disgrace for his crimes, asking T'Challa to bury him at sea with his ancestors who jumped from ships, believing that "death was better than bondage." Killmonger looked out at the sun one last time as he finished himself off by pulling the spear out of his chest, sharing his final moments with his cousin before willingly succumbing to his blood loss.