Black Panther Fans Make M’Baku Challenge Go Viral

Fans of Black Panther have made the M'Baku challenge go viral. There is no denying that Black Panther is a huge hit, breaking box office records and winning legions of dedicated fans. It's the third most successful MCU film, trailing only the two Avengers movies and is poised to pass Age of Ultron. Audiences are praising the movie - specifically the ensemble of interesting and complex characters who are so much more nuanced than simply heroes and villains.

And fans are responding to the movie in a number of creative and even heroic ways, often with the actors from the film jumping in. Black cat adoptions have increased - in spite of black cats and kittens often being ignored by superstitious people - and being named after characters from the film. Fans went on The Tonight Show to speak about what the movie means to them, only to be surprised by actor Chadwick Boseman. And Lupita Nyong'o has joined up with the Black Panther Challenge by helping children in Kenya see the movie.

But that isn't the only challenge to come out of Black Panther. Fans have also created the M'Baku Challenge, where they film videos of themselves imitating M'Baku giving the character's introductory speech from the movie. These fans are passionate, memorizing the speech and throwing themselves passionately into the words and accent. Not only has the challenge gone viral, but M'Baku actor Winston Duke himself found out and on Twitter asked fans to please continue making them.

The #Mbaku challenge is killing me ???!! Keep them coming-O!!!. #BlackPanther https://t.co/H43rBWeOq3— Winston Duke (@Winston_Duke) February 28, 2018

In an ensemble of fantastic characters, M'Baku is one of the standouts, providing laughs, heart, and some fierce moments in only a handful of scenes. He is the leader of the Jabari tribe, whose tribe stayed in Wakanda but refused to bow to the first king/Black Panther long ago. M'Baku challenges T'Challa to ritual combat over leadership of Wakanda, making the stirring speech that inspired the challenge. After yielding the fight to T'Challa, it seemed as though M'Baku and the Jabari might not be seen again. Instead, they surprised T'Challa and the rest of Wakanda - first by saving T'Challa's life, then by offering to protect his mother, and finally by showing up when Wakanda's own citizens battled each other over whether T'Challa or Killmonger was the rightful leader. In one of the movie's final moments, M'Baku joined the other leaders at T'Challa's side, uniting the Jabari with the rest of Wakanda.

M'Baku is one of several characters from Black Panther who will be seen in Avengers: Infinity War and fans are pretty happy about that. Even in a movie with as large a cast and as many characters as the third Avengers film has, M'Baku is still sure to be a standout once more. Possibly with another passionate speech that could inspire an M'Baku Challenge Part 2.

MORE: Every Black Panther Character Returning In Avengers: Infinity War

Source: Winston Duke