Wakanda Forever Could Make Humanity A Major MCU Threat

The MCU's Multiverse Saga is in full swing with Kang the Conqueror set to be a formidable villain for the Avengers, but Black Panther: Wakanda Forever might have secretly teased who could be the big bad for the MCU's next Saga. While Kang has been set up as the overarching villain of the current MCU Saga, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever introduced the powerful mutant antihero, Namor, to the MCU. But Wakanda Forever also developed the story of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, revealing her to be the sinister Director of the CIA after her previous appearances in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Black Widow left her largely unknown.

Fontaine being introduced as a nefarious background entity in the MCU could be teasing at a potential villain for the MCU once the Multiverse Saga concludes with Avengers: Secret Wars, as Wakanda Forever doesn't just focus on Namor as an enemy to Wakanda, but also the intervention of world governments. This could be setting up humanity to be the next villain, which would be fitting if Phase 7 introduces mutants en masse to the MCU. Previous villains in Marvel Studios projects have expressed human qualities, which is often what makes them so terrifying, but now humanity itself could be stepping up as the biggest villain that Marvel's heroes could face.

Previous MCU Villains Have Had Very Human Views

One of the largest traits that seem to define any Marvel villain is the very human idea of imperialism, extending one's power through colonization and the use of military forces, or other means. This has been expressed countless times in the MCU, but particularly in notable characters such as Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, and even Kang the Conqueror in the MCU's Phases 4-6. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever showed what happens when humans display this behavior, as world governments try to locate vibranium to use for their own purposes, with Fontaine herself stating she's had dreams of the US owning all the world's vibranium.

Thanos believed that his "Great Plan" to wipe out half of all life would bring peace to the universe, and while his intentions were solid, his methods were far from ideal. Thor: Ragnarok debuted Hela, who returned after Odin's death on a mission to take control of Asgard and set out across the Nine Realms to rule over everyone. He Who Remains, a variant of Kang, despite saving the universe during the multiversal war, took it upon himself to rule over the Sacred Timeline, enforcing his will on everyone living within it. Imperialism is not a new concept, but it could be played to its full force in future Sagas.

How Will Humanity Be The MCU’s Next Big Bad?

Aside from Fontaine, who has been slowly bringing together antiheroes for the upcoming Thunderbolts project, humanity as a whole could have a huge and tragic part to play in the MCU Phases following the Multiverse Saga. Phase 7 is rumored to involve the proper introduction of mutants into the MCU, a concept that has begun to be integrated with the franchise through projects such as Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and now Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. If the debut of a massive amount of mutants in the MCU is set to be as comic-accurate as possible, then the darker sides of humanity will certainly have a huge role.

In Marvel Comics, mutant-kind is constantly discriminated against and segregated from "normal" humans, through actions mostly taken by government officials and documents such as the Mutant Registration Act, akin to the MCU's Sokovia Accords. With the state of the current MCU where super-powered individuals are celebrated, it will certainly take some time to lay the groundwork for this kind of human behavior, but since this discrimination is one of the key aspects of mutant storylines in the comics, it must rear its ugly head in the MCU as well. If a character such as Fontaine is at the helm of this anti-mutant charge, this storyline could be even more frightening.

Dressing up imperialism as a charismatic white American woman makes Fontaine's evil intentions with forming the Thunderbolts all the more sinister, as viewers could quite easily see themselves represented in her character. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has helped to lay the foundations of humanity becoming a more villainous force in the MCU, with governments trying to take advantage of Wakanda's resources for their own purposes. If Marvel Studios focus on humanity as at least one of the major villains for the MCU after the Multiverse Saga, this would be an incredibly refreshing take on evil in the world, as it wouldn't be some otherworldly all-powerful alien being, but something much closer to home.

Next: Namor's Mutant Confirmation Means Big Things For His MCU Future