Man-Ape


Man-Ape is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as a frequent enemy of the Black Panther.
Winston Duke portrays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Black Panther, ', and '. In the films, he is only referred to as M'Baku and his tribe is isolated from the rest of Wakanda.

Publication history

He first appeared in Avengers #62 and was created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema.

Fictional character biography

M'Baku was born in Wakanda. He became one of Wakanda's greatest warriors, second only to the Black Panther. He plotted to usurp the throne of Wakanda with the help of the outlawed rival White Gorilla Cult and return Wakanda to a primitive state. M'Baku became a renegade and gains his powers by killing a white gorilla, bathing in its blood, and eating its flesh, taking the alias of Man-Ape. He fought with the Black Panther and was believed to be dead when the Panther Totem that the Black Panther was bound to crumbled on him. He is revived by his aide N'Gamo and goes to America where the Black Panther is with the Avengers at the time.
He allies himself with the original Lethal Legion made up of Grim Reaper, Living Laser, Power Man, and Swordsman. He is the first member met by the Avengers. He attacks Captain America, but is beaten back by the rest of the Avengers. He then captures the Black Panther's girlfriend Monica Lynne, binding her hand and foot with metal clamps. The Black Panther is lured into a trap and knocked out by an exploding dummy of Monica. He is chained up and meets the other members. The Legion straps him and Monica to chairs before leaving, though he is able to escape and contact the other members, before the Grim Reaper defeats him. The Legion is defeated by the Avengers after Vision overcomes Power Man and frees the other members. Man-Ape bests Black Panther again until he is defeated by Captain America. Black Panther banishes Man-Ape from Wakanda on order of execution if he returns.
Man-Ape later joins a new Lethal Legion and battles Tigra, but abandons the Grim Reaper alongside Black Talon when the Reaper's racism became too much for him to tolerate.
Man-Ape travels to uninhabited parts of the world before joining Crimson Cowl's incarnation of the Masters of Evil which is defeated by the Thunderbolts.
Despite his rivalry with T'Challa, M'Baku was invited to the wedding of T'Challa and Ororo Munroe, where he gets drunk on scotch and tries to pick a fight with Spider-Man.
Man-Ape is next seen at the end of Heroes for Hire #6, teamed with Grim Reaper & Saboteur.
Man-Ape is reportedly killed by Morlun: Devourer of Totems while defending his people from Morlun's attack on the Man-Ape's kingdom. But before his apparent death, he sends an envoy to Wakanda to warn them of the approaching danger. Man-Ape later appears alive as a member of Purple Man's Villains for Hire.

Powers and abilities

The Man-Ape gained superhuman powers by consuming the flesh of a sacred white gorilla and bathing in white gorilla blood, enchanting him through the mystical transference of the abilities of the rare Wakandan white gorilla. M'Baku's mystically augmented powers include superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina and durability equal to that of the mystical Wakandan white gorilla.
He has extensive formal military training in hand-to-hand combat from the Wakandan Royal Militia.

Other versions

''JLA/Avengers''

In the 2003–2004 intercompany crossover JLA/Avengers, Man-Ape is among the mind-controlled villains who attack the heroes as they assault Krona's Stronghold and fights Big Barda.

Ultimate Marvel

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, M'Baku is the name of T'Challa's older brother. After the young T'Challa failed to complete the "Trial of the Black Panther", M'Baku derided him, saying that he should have taken the trial instead. Later, angry that his father had decided to share Wakanda’s technology in exchange for America’s help in saving T’Challa’s life, M'Baku left the kingdom.

In other media

Television

portrays M'Baku in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This version of the character is the leader of the renegade Jabari Tribe who choose to shun Wakanda's technological society and have a religious reverence for gorillas, such as decorating their armor with white gorilla pelts and worshipping the gorilla god Hanuman, as a part of complex Indo-African religion, rather than the Panther god Bast.