M'Baku (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

"One. More. Word. And I will feed you to my children... Just kidding! We're vegetarian!"

- M'Baku to Everett K. Ross about to silence him in a funny way. M'Baku is an anti-hero in the 2018 fantasy drama Marvel movie Black Panther. He is the brutish leader of the Jabari Tribe who tries overthrowing T'Challa/Black Panther in order to rule over Wakanda. He is set to return in Avengers: Infinity War as a supporting character.

He is portrayed by Winston Duke, in his first film role.

Black Panther
As T'Challa has officially been announced king over Wakanda, there is a big celebration taking place. When people have stopped dancing and celebrating but haven't left yet, the Jabari Tribe can be heard chanting from behind. The tribe enters the mountains, along comes M'Baku. He challenges T'Challa for the throne, and the fight has begun. They are very equal in terms of fighting, with M'Baku almost winning. The crowd is obviously rooting for the new king T'Challa despite M'Baku barely having the upper hand. T'Challa counters M'Baku and now has the upper hand. He nearly kills M'Baku while strangling him at the waterfall, but when M'Baku is about to fall down, he gives up after T'Challa convinces him that his tribe truly needs him and allows him and his tribe to go free.

Though T'Challa proved to be a fair ruler, things get worse when Killmonger arrives to Wakanda after bringing in Ulysses Klaue's corpse, challenging T'Challa for the throne as he blames him and all of Wakanda for the death of his father Prince N'Jobu. Needless to say, Killmonger defeats T'Challa in combat and throws him into a waterfall to his seemingly death, declaring himself as the new King of Wakanda.

However, a near-dead T'Challa was found and rescued by a Jabari fisherman, who brought him over to M'Baku. Honoring what T'Challa has done for him, M'Kabu allows him to be healed by a special herb that T'Challa's family have saved for the occasion. Upon being told of Killmonger's plot to distribute Vibranium weapons around the world, M'Baku is unwilling to help at first, but he soon changes his mind by leading the Jabari tribe to help the Dora Mijale in warding off the treasonous W'Kabi and his men. Following Killmonger's death and W'Kabi's arrest, M'Kabu is shown to take W'Kabi's place as a new member of the Wakandan Council, symbolizing the unification of all five Wakadan tribes under T'Challa's leadership.

Avengers: Infinity War
M'Kabu is set to appear in the film, as he intends to help T'Challa and the other Avengers in fighting off the infamous alien warlord Thanos and his army of the Black Order and Outriders from threatening the Earth.

Personality
At the start of the movie, M'Baku appears to be a feral man who wanted nothing but destruction to everything but his tribe. This is proven wrong though as the movie progresses, and his personality is shown to be a more clever and funny guy. He is shown deeply caring for his tribe and doing anything to protect it, as well as helping those who aided him. He is also honorable, as he rescued T'Challa as a debt for sparing his life during their combat, even aiding him in stopping Erik Killmonger's plot to distribute vibranium weapons around th world.

Abilities

 * Peak-human strength : M'Baku has strength which is much more superior to that of a normal human. He is capable of lifting up humans with a single arm even without the heart shaped herb enchantment. He even managed to overwhelm T'Challa in their battle.
 * Expert Combatant: As a Wakandan warrior and tribe leader, M'Baku is well versed in melee and unarmed combat, often using his size, weight and strength in his fighting style. He is proficient in the use of blades, shields and blunt weapons, which he used to fight T'Challa and against several Wakandan soldiers. His combat prowess allowed him to nearly overwhelm and defeat the prince of Wakanda in ritual combat before T'Challa got the upper hand.
 * Multilingualism: M'Baku is fluent in his native language, Xhosa, as well as English.

Trivia

 * In the comics, M'Baku is the second most powerful warrior in Wakanda after T'Challa, and the leader of the White Gorilla Cult under the name of Man-Ape. He is also one of T'Challa 's most dreaded enemies.
 * The gorilla motif in his outfit and his tribe's worship of gorillas, are references to the character's comic book alias of "The Man-Ape", which was abandoned in the Marvel Cinematic Universe due to the racist implications of dressing up a black man in a gorilla costume and calling him "Man-Ape".