Soon, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be upon us. It features new characters, including, like most Marvel movies, a distinctive villain to play its central superhero off against. In the case of Black Panther’s long-awaited sequel, however, the man to step in Namor’s shoes has his work cut out for him if he wants to meet the bar raised by his predecessor.
Tenoch Huerta — who plays the aforementioned antagonist — discusses his upcoming role and what came before while speaking to Total Film. He says he wants fans to grab on to the character as they did with Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger, though he tries not to compare himself with others.
“I hope so! I never try to compare myself with other actors with my characters. But, of course, he made a great antagonist, and people loved him. I loved that character when I saw the first Black Panther movie. I hope that people engage in the same way with Namor.”
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever releases Nov. 11. It is the final film in the fourth phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and introduces a number of new characters from the comic books. The film also appears to be presenting a female successor to Chadwick Boseman in the titular role, though, just who will end up putting on the suit has not been revealed at this time and a number of fans feel what has been presented so far could be the result of some intentional misdirection.
It’s also entirely possible that what Marvel’s currently presenting as the most likely successor to Boseman’s Black Panther (i.e. Letitia Wright’s Shuri) is actually spot on, but we’ll just have to wait and see.