Black Panther Portraits Highlight Heroes & Villains

Screen Rant

Black Panther Portraits Highlight the Film's Heroes & Villains

Character portraits for Marvel's Black Panther highlight the hero himself, Killmonger, Nakia, Shuri, T'Challa's mother, and many others.

Newly released portraits of the cast of Black Panther in full costume give us detailed looks at how many of the characters will appear on screen.

Taken by photographer Kwaku Alston, the portraits showcase T'Challa aka Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Lupita Nyong'o (Nakia), Shuri (Letitia Wright), W'Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya), Ramonda (Angela Bassett), Eric Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), Zuri (Forest Whitaker), and M'Baku (Winston Duke). Two notable characters absent from the portraits are Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), the latter of which was described by Boseman as the film's "real villain."

The images were provided for EW's Comic-Con preview. Each of the characters revealed in the portraits come directly from the comics, and of the nine, only Black Panther has already been introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The images combine Wakanda's unique culture with their advanced technology to create striking costumes rich with color.

[vn_gallery name="Black Panther Character Portraits" id="1015108"]

Most of what we've seen of the characters comes from the Black Panther teaser trailer, but these images allow us a closer look at these classic characters plucked from the world of Wakanda. We see minor comic book characters such as Zuri, Ramonda, W'Kabi, Okoye, and Nakia, as well as Black Panther's sister, Shuri, and two prominent villains from his rogues' gallery, Killmonger and M'Baku, known in the comics as "Man-Ape."

Man-Ape was an early villain of Black Panther and a frequent foe of the Avengers. Fans have been waiting to see how close the movie version of the character resembles his comic book counterpart. While the character will not be called "Man-Ape" in the film, M'Baku's character portrait does show that Duke's portrayal of the classic character will at least wear the fur of the gorilla and have a more primitive appearance than the others, which is reflective of the character's personality and purpose in the comics.

Forest Whitaker's character, Zuri, is presented as a "wise old man" figure and is described as the movie's version of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Bassett looks majestic as Black Panther's mother Ramonda, and Shuri is sporting a pair of vibranium panther gauntlets. W'Kabi (T'Challa's best friend), Okoye (head of the all-female Dora Milaje), and Nakia (T'Challa's former lover) all appear to be dressed in traditional Wakandan attire. Killmonger, who was featured heavily in the teaser trailer, is the most modern-looking character in the portraits. The character is shown carrying an automatic weapon, while the others are shown brandishing spears and swords.