Why The Cast Of Black Panther Looks So Familiar

As king of the isolated Kingdom of Wakanda and the man behind the Black Panther mask, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) is both the political and literal protector of his people—so we'd say he probably has a few more responsibilities than the average guy. Still, just because he can kick bad guy butt with the best of 'em thanks to a mysterious Heart-Shaped Herb that grants him enhanced physical prowess, that doesn't mean he is without a strict code of honor. Not only did he spare big bad Helmut Zemo during the chaotic events of Captain America: Civil War, he prevented the terrorist from committing suicide, handing him over for incarceration instead. Plus, he granted Bucky asylum—and free use of Wakanda's cryogenic technology—after realizing Cap's ol' buddy wasn't behind his father's death during the signing of the Sokovia Accords.

While Boseman has appeared in a number of hugely successful biopics, portraying Jackie Robinson in 42, James Brown in Get On Up, and a young Thurgood Marshall in the aptly titled Marshall, the British American Drama Academy graduate got his start with a series of minor roles in procedural dramas and soaps like CSI, Third Watch, Law & Order, and All My Children in the early 2000s. In 2010, he landed his first recurring role on the psychological drama Persons Unknown. Not bad—especially considering Boseman, who's also a playwright, initially wanted to stick to writing and directing. 

When N'Jadaka (Michael B. Jordan) chose his supervillain pseudonym, subtlety was the last thing on his mind. We all know what kind of message a guy with the name "Erik Killmonger" is trying to get across. In the Black Panther comics, Killmonger means serious business. Exiled from Wakanda by T'Chaka—T'Challa's father and former Black Panther—the villain formerly known as N'Jadaka would go on to develop a fiery hatred for both his motherland's new ruler and one Ulysses Klaue, the arms dealer who roped his father into villainy and then promptly fled the country. Weirdly, trailers for the upcoming film seem to indicate that the two will be working together to take down Wakanda's new costumed king.

If you've got any taste in TV, you'll immediately recognize the actor behind this literal copycat from his portrayal of Wallace from The Wire. Following his season-long stint on the HBO hit, Jordan took his talents to Friday Night Lights, joining the cast for its fourth and fifth seasons as Vince Howard, and in 2013, he worked with future Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, portraying shooting victim Oscar Grant in 2015's Fruitvale Station. He'd later earn acclaim for his work in the Rocky spinoff Creed (and star in the ill-fated Fantastic Four reboot, but we don't need to talk about that here).

Drawing comparisons to Star Wars' Obi-Wan Kenobi, Zuri (Forest Whitaker) has been described as a spiritual figure akin to a shaman with strong links to T'Challa's father, T'Chaka. In the comics, Zuri, a war veteran, was the late ruler's loyal attendant; while little is known about the character's film counterpart at the time of writing, sources speculate that he may be connected to the Heart-Shaped Herb ceremony that provides each Black Panther with their enhanced senses and abilities while also cementing their status as rightful heir to the Wakandan throne.

Forest Whitaker is an actor renowned for his adaptability. In other words: no matter what kind of films you're into, chances are you've seen this brilliant actor somewhere. A fan of military dramedies? Whitaker portrayed Private First Class Edward Montesquieu "Eddie" Garlick in Golden Globe-winning Good Morning, Vietnam. Dig a gruesome, gritty historical piece every now and then? You'll recognize the actor from his portrayal of former Ugandan president Idi Amin in 2008's The Last King of Scotland. Into genre-bending hip-hop samurai/mafia bloodbaths? No prob. You'll know him as the titular character from Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. And as his appearance in Black Panther attests, he isn't averse to the occasional blockbuster—in fact, he was recently seen in a galaxy far, far away, playing the guerrilla Rebel known as Saw Gerrera in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Hostile toward outsiders and endlessly loyal to his allies—especially T'Challa—W'Kabi (Daniel Kaluuya) is (or was, if you're talking the comic book incarnate) a force to be reckoned with. Not only is W'Kabi Black Panther's right-hand man and guy most likely to say, "If you wanna get to him, you'll have to go through me first," but the chief of Wakandan security is also a capable warrior with a bionic arm that emits devastating blasts of energy. Pitting his very life on the line for his king and best friend—and losing it in the process—W'Kabi sacrifices himself to buy time for a wounded T'Challa in an arc from Reginald Hudlin's 2009 run. Fortunately, Kaluuya's big screen take on the Wakandan protector looks no worse for wear in the few glimpses we get in the movie's trailer—but who knows whether he'll survive his MCU adventure.

While Kaluuya appeared in a handful of films in the early 2000s—along with a recurring role in the British drama Skins and a well-received performance in an episode of Black Mirror—it was a minor role in 2013's Kick-Ass 2 as Black Death that kickstarted his rise to fame. He would go on to become a household name in 2017, when he starred in the award-winning Jordan Peele-directed psychological thriller Get Out.

When it was announced that Sterling K. Brown would be portraying a character in Black Panther, Marvel fanatics everywhere scrambled to dissect their comic book collections, speculating about who it might be. But when word got around that he'd be playing a character named N'Jobu, geeks across the globe collectively scratched their heads in confusion. Cryptically described as "a character from T'Challa's past," this "N'Jobu" appears nowhere in the pages of the Black Panther comics—and we don't even know what the character looks like, since he hasn't appeared in any of the film's trailers. But a brand new character could help expand the MCU and give it some dramatic weight—and, given Brown's past performances, it'll be a real treat for viewers who like their action blockbusters with a heart-wrenching punch right in the feels.

If Brown looks familiar, it's probably because you've seen that glorious smile in This is Us, NBC's tear-jerking, multigenerational drama and weaponized emotional roller coaster. The award-winning actor portrays Randall Pearson, one of the show's main characters in an ensemble cast that also includes Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia. But even those without a masochistic desire to bawl into their pillows every Tuesday night would recognize Brown—the same man behind Randall, the ever-anxious weather trader—as Christopher Darden, famed prosecutor in Ryan Murphy's The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story.

M'Baku—known in the Black Panther comics as the super offensively-named Man-Ape—will thankfully not be taking his source material's pseudonym in the MCU. However, according to Winston Duke, the actor portraying the young Jabari tribe leader, audiences may get a glimpse of some iteration of the antagonist's white gorilla getup. But we won't hold our breath for a faithful recreation of the character's origin storyafter all, his transformation from M'Baku into Man-Ape entailed the consumption of a mystical gorilla's flesh, and we're not sure that same process will translate well on the big screen.

While M'Baku is a pretty well-known—and feared—villain in the Black Panther comics, the man behind the tattered breastplate, Winston Duke, is relatively new to acting. Duke, who has a background in theatre, began his television acting career in 2014 when he guest starred on an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit as a high school football player named Cedric Jones. That same year, the young actor portrayed Dominic Besson, a.k.a. Mini, in a seven-episode arc of CBS crime thriller Person of Interest. 2015 would see him guest starring on The Closer spinoff Major Crimes, while he would play another football player—a character named Dwight—in 2016 in three episodes of Modern Family.

One of the most exciting new additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe has got to be Ulysses Klaue, our resident sociopathic South African arm dealer (get it?) who was first introduced to audiences in Avengers: Age of Ultron. While actor Andy Serkis brings sadistic charm and a roguish look to the role, fans of the Marvel comics likely know the appropriately-named Klaue as Klaw, a supervillain made of living sound. While we've seen the baddie's sonic disrupter in action in the Black Panther trailer, we're doubtful that the MCU's newest heel is about to leap into a "sound transformer" and come out lookin' like a diet Sentinel. 

Regardless as to whether or not we get another Zemo design overhaul, Andy Serkis' involvement means there's a chance we'll get some kind of transformation. He'd only been working on TV and film for around six years before Peter Jackson cast Serkis as Gollum in The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, inspiring the "cyber-thespian" to dedicate his career—or, at least, a good chunk of it—to motion capture performance. Serkis reprised his role as Gollum in Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy, and he's lent his talent to the Star Wars sequel films as Supreme Leader Snoke, but he's perhaps best known for his portrayal of Caesar, the tragic protagonist of the Planet of the Apes films.