Black Panther 2’s Villain Should Be Eternals Hero Black Knight

Eternals hero Black Knight should be one of the villains of Black Panther 2, if not the main antagonist. Marvel may have confirmed their Phase 4 slate – even announcing an update in light of the Coronavirus pandemic – but they still have a lot of secrets. That’s especially the case with the eagerly-anticipated Black Panther 2, which is still scheduled for May 6, 2022.

This is possibly the most exciting film in the entire Phase 4 slate. The first Black Panther movie was a cultural event, and it grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide. It was a defining moment for Afrocentricism, popularizing it in a way that’s never been seen before. What’s more, the story opportunities for the sequel are wide open. How will Wakanda deal with the fact it is now a global power, after T’Challa revealed its technological marvels to the world? How has the country coped with the tragedy and trauma of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame? Will Namor be the villain? Will Doctor Doom? Will M’Baku?

The truth is that pretty much anything could happen. And yet, it is possible to identify potential clues by looking at the MCU’s overarching narrative. The MCU is a shared universe, with everything relating to everything else, meaning Black Panther 2 could build upon story beats from another film. In fact, it’s entirely possible one of Black Panther 2‘s villains could be a hero from Eternals.

Eternals Will Introduce The Black Knight

Eternals – now sadly pushed back to 2021 – is primarily the story of a cosmic race of beings who are attempting to save the Earth from an alien threat called the Deviants. But the movie will also serve to introduce a new sword-and-sorcery superhero, the Black Knight, played by Game of Thrones veteran Kit Harington. In the comics, Dane Whitman was a scientist swept into a world of romantic adventure and mysticism, when he learned he had inherited the mystical Ebony Blade. This sword was given to Whitman’s ancestor, Sir Percy of Scandia, by Merlin himself in order to protect the city of Camelot. Unfortunately, over the centuries, the Ebony Blade had acquired a powerful blood curse, meaning anyone who wields it feels the terrible desire to shed blood and take lives. Whitman dedicated his life to using the Ebony Blade for justice, and battling to restrain its insatiable bloodlust.

Whitman appears to be the audience’s “viewpoint” character in Eternals, a relatable human being who grounds the story. Part of this will be a romance plot between Black Knight and Sersi, one of the Eternals, with set photos including shots of Harington’s Whitman passionately embracing Gemma Chan’s Sersi. But, while that explains why Black Knight is crucial to Eternals, it doesn’t explain his future in the MCU. Marvel Studios play the long-game, and they’ll clearly have already figured out what’s next for Black Knight.

A Black Knight Has A History With Black Panther

In 2005, Marvel Comics hired Hollywood screenwriter Reginald Hudlin to write what became one of the most influential Black Panther comic stories. Hudlin focused as much on the nation of Wakanda itself as he did upon Black Panther, and he helped develop T’Challa’s secondary characters, while writing in a popular romance with the X-Men’s Storm. His first story saw the US government attempt to force a regime change in Wakanda in order to acquire Vibranium, and they did this by putting together their own “Suicide Squad” style team.

One of the members was actually an iteration of the Black Knight, Augustine du Lac, who had been trained as a champion by the Vatican. Augustine was a pious man, and he saw the taming of Wakanda as a sacred religious duty, believing the heathens needed to be converted to Catholicism – by force, if necessary. He wielded the Ebony Blade, and he even had the Black Knight’s traditional flying steed. Although the Vatican believed Augustine du Lac to be unbeatable, they were proved wrong when T’Challa defeated him and even claimed the Ebony Blade. For a time, the mystical sword was kept in Wakanda, and Black Panther even used it on occasion – notably during the superhero Civil War, when he was able to slice into Iron Man’s armor.

Black Knight Could Be A Perfect Villain For Black Panther 2

It’s not hard to see how Marvel could adapt this story to fit the MCU. T’Challa has revealed the truth about Wakanda to the world, and although he is willing to share his nation’s secrets, it’s safe to say that powerful men will want to take control of Vibranium for themselves. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see foreign powers attempt to impose regime change upon Wakanda, just as in the Hudlin run, and they could take exactly the same approaching – putting together a task-force of superhumans, allowing them to retain plausible deniability. The Black Knight could be a member of that group.

Now, it’s true Whitman is no Augustine du Lac; Whitman is a good man, not some refugee from a Dan Brown novel. But he is still under the influence of the Ebony Blade, and this has frequently left him open to manipulation, because the Ebony Blade hungers for battle and the shedding of blood. The influence of the Ebony Blade could easily impair Whitman’s judgment, meaning he could be tricked into participating in a Wakandan campaign. With Whitman involved, Black Panther 2 would essentially became a scaled-down superhero civil war in its own right – a head-to-head collision between two powerful superheroes, with the fate of Wakanda at stake.

Interestingly, there may be a connection between the Black Knight’s Ebony Blade and Wakanda’s Vibranium. Black Panther’s Vibranium comes from a meteorite that struck the continent of Africa some 2.5 million years ago; in the comics, the Black Knight’s Ebony Blade was forged from a meteorite fragment as well. It’s not hard to imagine a scenario where Vibranium was forged into a razor-sharp sword, able to could cut through anything. What’s more, the Doomwar comic book arc confirmed Vibranium can absorb magic in the same way it absorbs kinetic energy; that may well explain how the Ebony Blade was able to acquire a blood curse. Where most hero-versus-hero match-ups are relatively unsatisfying in terms of resolution, a battle between Black Knight and Black Panther could be a crucial step on Whitman’s journey to understand and master the Ebony Blade. That would transform his potential role in Black Panther 2, making it a crucial part of his personal narrative arc