It has become customary for studios to release a sampling of a film’s bonus features ahead of its home video release. In most cases, this takes the form of some deleted scenes or maybe a featurette. But as befits such an expectation-defying film, ‘Black Panther‘ is doing things a little differently.
As a preview of the film’s bonus features, Marvel has released a snippet of director Ryan Coogler’s audio commentary for ‘Black Panther’. And as commentary clips go, this is a good one. The scene featured is the one in which T’Challa learns – along with the audience – the truth of Killmonger’s early life and his father T’Chaka’s role in the tragedy. It’s a big moment in the film, but in his commentary, Coogler takes things a step farther, revealing some previously unknown information on Killmonger’s backstory.
The clip full clip is available over on Collider, but the relevant quote is available here:
“The backstory idea of it was this was through the idea of the woman he fell in love with, the African-American woman. The idea was that when you see those guys talking over that paperwork in the beginning of the film, they’re trying to figure out a way to break her out. She’s been incarcerated. They’re trying to break her out of jail. The idea is that they never got her out and she passed away in prison, so Killmonger didn’t come up with a mom either.”
While Coogler doesn’t say exactly when Killmonger’s mother died, in some ways it’s almost immaterial. Even while she was alive, he had already lost her to the prison system. All told, this new information paints an even fuller picture of a character who was already on one Marvel Studios’ best developed (and most sympathetic) villains.
Do you wish this backstory had been included in the film or has Killmonger had rough enough break already? Let us know in the comments and be sure to check back with ScienceFiction.com for more as the home video release of ‘Black Panther’ approaches!
Helmed by ‘Creed’ director Ryan Coogler, ‘Black Panther’ marks the eighteenth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film, which stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis, is set for release on blu-ray, DVD, and an array of digital formats on May 15, 2018.
