Black Panther Villain Man-Ape Confirmed for Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War boasts a larger-than-life cast, which promises to cover the wide scope of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And now it appears that another cast member from Black Panther could be added to the mix.

IMDB is reporting that Winston Duke – a.k.a. M’Baku/Man Ape – will be a part of Infinity War. Interestingly, the news was broken via a tweet from the website’s official Twitter account, which you can see below.

For the uninitiated, Man Ape is one of Wakanda’s strongest warriors, who goes on to betray T’Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), and eventually lead the White Gorilla Cult.

Duke’s casting shouldn’t be too surprising to MCU fans, as it has been stressed for a while that the events of Black Panther will tie into Infinity War. This news also follows last week’s reports that Letitia Wright, who plays T’Challa‘s sister Shuri, will reprise her role in Infinity War.

Nevertheless, it’s certainly an interesting development, and not only indicates that fans could see a significant amount of the world of Wakanda in Infinity War, but that M’Baku will have a larger role in the larger MCU.

Avengers: Infinity War is currently in production for a release sometime in 2018.

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As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment – the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain.”

Avengers: Infinity War is described by Marvel Studios as the culmination of everything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Iron Man in 2008. The movie is filming now under directors Anthony and Joe Russo, from a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.

The expansive confirmed cast includes Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Holland, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bethany, Sebastian Stan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Pom Klementieff, and Josh Brolin as the villain Thanos. Avengers: Infinity War and its as-yet-untitled sequel are filming back-to-back for a May 4, 2018 and May 3, 2019 release, respectively.