Erik Killmonger


Erik Killmonger is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Don McGregor and Rich Buckler, the character first appeared in Jungle Action vol. 2, #6. Killmonger, whose birth name is N'Jadaka, is an enemy of Black Panther.
Michael B. Jordan portrayed the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Black Panther.

Publication history

Erik Killmonger first appeared in the "Panther's Rage" storyline, initially in Jungle Action vol. 2, #6-8, and was created by writer Don McGregor and penciler Rich Buckler.
The character subsequently appeared in Jungle Action vol. 2, #12-18, Iron Man Annual #5, Over the Edge #6, Black Panther vol. 3, #13, #15-16, #18-21, Deadpool #44, Black Panther vol. 3, #23-25, #60, and Black Panther vol. 4, #35-38.
Erik Killmonger appeared in an entry in the 2006 reference book All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #6.

Fictional character biography

A native of Wakanda, he was born under the name N'Jadaka. When Ulysses Klaue and his mercenaries attacked Wakanda, they press-ganged N'Jadaka's father, N'Jobu, into helping them; when Klaue was defeated, his father died and his family was exiled. N'Jadaka ended up in Harlem, New York, nursing a hatred against the supervillain and T'Chaka, the king who had exiled him. He changed his name to Erik Killmonger and studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, desperate to avenge his father's death.
He eventually contacted King T'Challa and was repatriated back to Wakanda, settling in a village that would later change its name to N'Jadaka Village in his honor. He became a subversive, with dreams of ridding Wakanda of what he termed "white colonialist" cultural influences and return it entirely to its ancient ways. He then took advantage of the Black Panther's frequent absences in America with the Avengers to stage a coup d'état, along with Baron Macabre. He was defeated and killed, until the Mandarin claimed his body.

Resurrection

Using his rings, the Mandarin was able to amplify the Resurrection Altar and restore Killmonger to life. Killmonger returned to his lover and ally, Madam Slay, and the two plotted to kill the Black Panther and return Wakanda to its ancient ways. While Tony Stark visited Wakanda, Madam Slay drugged Jim Rhodes and took him prisoner. Killmonger appeared to have killed the Black Panther, and blamed Rhodes and Stark, convincing the Wakandans that he could lead them to vengeance. The Black Panther returned, revealing that he had faked his death using a Life Model Decoy. The Black Panther defeated Killmonger. The Mandarin recalled his ring, and Killmonger reverted to an inanimate skeleton. Killmonger's followers resurrected him again and he would clash with T'Challa on several other occasions.

Wakanda takeover

In the wake of the sorcerer Reverend Achebe's attempted takeover of Wakanda, with T'Challa absent and control of the country left with his regent Everett Ross, Killmonger tried to gain control of the country via its economy, forcing T'Challa to stop him by nationalizing all foreign companies in Wakanda and cause a run on the stock market. The two foes fought in a vicious ritual combat over the right to rule the country, and Killmonger was finally able to defeat his foe and gain the status of Black Panther for his own. He maintained control of Wakanda for a while and even attempted to inherit T'Challa's Avengers status, but when he underwent the ascension rite needed to cement his position, his body had a severe reaction to the heart-shaped herb that he was required to consume - it was poisonous to all but the royal bloodline. Although it would have been convenient to allow him to die, and be unquestionably entitled to the position of the Black Panther, T'Challa preserved his rival's life.
Killmonger eventually came out of his coma, thus reclaiming his position as chieftain over Wakanda. He went to New York and contacted Kasper Cole, an inner-city police officer masquerading as the Black Panther to help him with cases, and attempted to gain him as an ally by offering him a buffered version of the Panther's heart-shaped herb and help finding his supervisor's kidnapped son. In exchange, he had to drop the Panther identity and take up that of a White Tiger acolyte of the Panther cult, and would owe Killmonger a favor. While Kasper agreed to this, he then used his new herb-enhanced abilities to track down the boy on his own to avoid owing Killmonger an unpayable debt.
T'Challa is then once again the sole ruler of Wakanda when Killmonger resurfaces and takes control of the neighboring country of Niganda. During a subsequent duel with T'Challa, Killmonger is killed by Monica Rambeau, whom he had previously captured and imprisoned. Killmonger's young son is last seen swearing vengeance against the Black Panther, much like N'Jadaka had done years earlier after the death of his own father.

Powers and abilities

Erik Killmonger is an expert martial artist with peak-level strength and a genius-level intellect. He is also an expert tactician having taken over Wakanda and Niganda multiple times. Erik is capable of taking attacks from stronger foes and fall from great heights that would kill or injure a normal person with little to no injury. He is highly knowledgeable of Wakanda/African history and laws leading to him battling Black Panther constantly for the throne. It is also strongly implied that he cannot consume the Heart-Shaped Herb to gain the same abilities of the Black Panther due to him not having the royal bloodline. He is also a skilled businessman.

Other versions

X-Men Forever

In an alternate timeline depicted in X-Men Forever, Killmonger made a pact with an evil version of Storm to kill T'Challa, which they succeeded in doing. However, Storm later betrayed and killed Killmonger so she could be seen as a hero to the Wakandans and become the Queen of Wakanda.

Once and Future King

In an alternate universe, Killmonger and his cabal kidnapped T'Challa's friend, Everett Ross, in order to make T'Challa himself come out of isolation. However, he, his cabal, and T'Challa's daughter were all killed by T'Charra, T'Challa's son.

Infinity Wars

During the Infinity Wars, when the universe was folded in half, Killmonger was fused with Killraven, forming Erik Killraven. In a possible future, where the Martians had invaded Earth, Erik along with his family, who had been exiled from Wakanda, were captured and experimented on by the Martians. Erik along with M'Bakshulla escaped the Martians and stole Time Diamonds, which they used to travel back in time and weaken Wakanda so it would fall with the rest of the world during the Martian invasion. In fact, they were successful in killing T'Chaka and destroying the heart-shaped herb. They eventually confronted Ghost Panther, with the latter killing M'Bakshulla. Erik retaliated by impaling him from behind and planting bombs around Wakanda. However Ghost Panther came back and along with his resurrected father, consumed Killraven's soul.

Intergalactic Empire of Wakandas

In an alternate timeline set 2000 years in the future, a man named after Killmonger's real name, N'Jadaka, became a hero of the empire after retrieving the Shard of M'Kraan during the war against the Shi'ar Empire. However, the current ruler of Wakanda feared that N'Jadaka would overthrow him, so he sent N'Jadaka along with his squad on a secret suicide mission to take the Matrix of the Mamadou galaxy, which was inhabited by the Kronans, Shadow People, and the Klyntar. Upon arriving on a planet in the galaxy, they were quickly attacked by a race known as the Between. Trying to survive, he came across a member of the Klyntar race and bonded with it, since they had a mutual hatred against the current emperor, who made the Klyntar an endangered species. Upon defeating the Between, N'Jadaka and the symbiote killed the emperor and took the throne as the new emperor of the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda. During this time, he got married and conceived a daughter. Upon finding out that T'Challa from the past had arrived in his present, he feared that T'Challa would join the Maroon rebels, so he had him become a member of the Nameless, slaves who had their memories wiped and were forced to mine for Vibranium on asteroids. However, T'Challa retained his memories of Storm and managed to escape to join the Maroon. After that, N'Jadaka approached Bast and after recounting his origin, battled Bast's avatar. He was successful in killing it and making his daughter the new Avatar of Bast. After the Maroons got ahold of N'Jadaka's daughter and T'Challa had visited the planet of the Between, N'Jadaka with his army went after the rebels in order to get his daughter back. However, Bast betrayed him and made his Empire fighters crash into the mothership while a rebel commander set the planet holding the rebel base's core to explode as a last ditch attempt to stop him; resulting in the sacrifice of thousands of lives and the apparent death of N'Jadaka.

In other media

Television