Winston Duke got his big onscreen acting break recurring as Dominic Besson on the CBS series Person of Interest, but he achieved worldwide fame starring as M’Baku in Black Panther, a role he reprised for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and will play once more in Black Panther 2, a.k.a. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Of course, to play the leader of the Jabari Tribe, Duke needs to be in tremendous physical shape, and a recent photo indicates that the actor isn’t having trouble accomplishing this, to the point that we should probably just officially nickname him M’Backu. See what I did there?
Over on Instagram, Winston Duke showed off his ripped back as part of his work on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Take a look!
It’s fitting that Winston Duke references a silverback gorilla in the above post considering that in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Jabari Tribe worships the gorilla god Hanuman. More importantly, that ripped back is impressive, and while that alone doesn’t provide any clues about what to expect from M’Baku in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, at least we can take comfort knowing he’ll still be boasting a warrior’s physicality. Really though, what will it take for everyone to try to make ‘M’Backu’ a thing? What’s that? You want me to leave it alone? Ok, moving on.
While the MCU’s version fo M’Baku differs heavily from his Man-Ape counterpart from the comics, Winston Duke’s performance as the adversary-turned-ally in Black Panther was among the many praised elements of the 2018 movie. We briefly saw M’Baku fighting Thanos’ forces in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, but Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will finally allow us to spend some significant time with him again. It’s just unfortunate that we won’t see him interact with T’Challa again, as Chadwick Boseman passed away last year, and Marvel Studios opted not to recast his role.
With less than a year to go until Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s release (with the sequel having begun filming in late June), there still aren’t any official plot details to absorb. Casting-wise, along with Winston Duke’s M’Baku, the lineup of familiar faces includes Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Dania Gurira’s Okoye, Angela Bassett’s Ramonda and Martin Freeman’s Everett Ross. Wakanda Forever will also introduce Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams ahead of the Ironheart series premiering on Disney+. Michaela Cole and Tenoch Huerta have also been cast in undisclosed roles, although it’s been rumored that the latter will appear as Namor the Sub-Mariner. Behind the scenes, Ryan Coogler returned to the director’s chair and co-wrote Wakanda Forever’s script with Joe Robert Cole.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever slashes its way into theaters on July 8, 2022. To pass the time while we wait for more updates about the sequel, look through the upcoming Marvel movies guide to learn what else the MCU is prepping for the silver screen.
