Winston Duke recalled how the first time he met Chadwick Boseman on the set of 2018’s Black Panther he ended up splitting his pants. Duke portrays M’Baku, leader of the Jabari Village tribe in Wakanda, and was an early adversary to Boseman’s King T’Challa in Black Panther. What started off as a rivalry soon grew into a shared respect between the characters, and M’Baku fought alongside Black Panther to stop Killmonger from taking over Wakanda. M’Baku returns in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, again helping defend Wakanda against Namor and his underwater kingdom of Talocan. But it’s the promotional tour for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever where Winston Duke shared the story of wrestling Chadwick Boseman and ending up with split pants.
The M’Baku actor was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where the host asked if he remembered his first time meeting Chadwick Boseman. “So, the first time I met Chadwick was the final audition screen test,” Winston Duke told Jimmy Fallon. “And we were going through the scenes, and they’re like, ‘We just want to see how you guys are gonna be together, how you’re gonna play. So could you wrestle or something?’ And I’m like, ‘Okay, alright. If that’s gonna get me this job, I’m gonna wrestle.’”
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Duke continued, “We start wrestling, and he’s a martial artist so he can hold his own. I wrestled all through high school and started a little bit in college. I got in there, crouched down. And the first thing that happened was my pants split open. I tell you, I have the best things happen to me.”
M’Baku’s Role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Winston Duke revealed what M’Baku was up to after the five-year time jump between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis spoke to Winston Duke after his appearance on the main stage at D23 Expo. The Black Panther: Wakanda Forever star discussed what M’Baku thinks about Wakanda being on the global map. “I think M’Baku is forced to catch up with the times,” Winston said. “His role has changed. He survived The Snap, he is now a part of the Tribal Council so he’s more forward-facing and less insular. So he’s been forced to really be a part of the collective transparency. I think that’s a really cool thing for him and you get to see a whole new dynamic including him.”
Winston Duke also spoke about the Black Panther sequel revealing “so much more Wakanda” when it arrives in theaters in November. While Duke told Marvel.com that M’Baku is “still very honest,” he admitted that “he is no longer the insular leader, he’s learning how to move forward. So he has a very large, wide, macro lens as to what’s happening and I think we get to see more of that, and see how much that impacts him.”
Tickets for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever are on sale now. The movie arrives in theaters on November 11th.
Photo credit via Leon Bennett/Getty Images
