M’Baku is back. Marvel Studios already announced that Winston Duke — who played M’Baku, leader of Wakanda’s Jabari tribe in Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame before succeeding Chadwick Boseman’s late T’Challa as King of Wakanda in 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — is among the 27 MCU stars (and counting) assembling for Avengers: Doomsday. While the Us actor has been spotted in behind-the-scenes photos with co-stars like Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Hemsworth, we’ve yet to see Duke’s M’Baku on set.
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Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel shared a photo from Doomsday‘s on-location shoot in Bahrain, and it appears to show Duke in costume and wielding M’Baku’s club (a knobkerrie). It also appears that Letitia Wright’s Shuri, who assumed the mantle of Black Panther in Wakanda Forever, is standing next to King M’Baku.
Duke and Wright are among the Doomsday cast members currently on location in Bahrain. Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Captain America), Danny Ramirez (Joaquín Torres/Falcon), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi), Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr/Ghost), Mabel Cadena (Namora), Alex Livinalli (Attuma), and Tenoch Huerta Mejía (Namor) recently attended an event at Cipriani Bahrain with director Joe Russo, suggesting the worlds of Wakanda and Talokan will meet again. (Cadena, Livinalli, and Mejía made their debuts alongside the undersea kingdom in Wakanda Forever.)
If the Bahrain desert isn’t doubling as the kingdoms of Wakanda or Talokan, there may be another possibility: the Void. The barren landscape resembles the “metaphysical junkyard” at the End of Time (as seen in Loki and Deadpool & Wolverine), although the latter filmed its wasteland scenes in Buckinghamshire, UK.
Sigel, who collaborated with directors Joe and Anthony Russo on the Tom Holland-fronted Cherry and AGBO productions Extraction and Citadel, also shot 2003’s X2 and 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Ian McKellen (Magneto), James Marsden (Cyclops), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), and Kelsey Grammer (Beast) are all confirmed to be reprising their roles from Fox’s X-Men movies, as part of an ensemble that includes the casts of Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Downey (Doctor Doom), Hemsworth (Thor), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier), and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) are among the MCU veterans reprising their roles, with Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova/Black Widow), Wyatt Russell (John Walker/U.S. Agent), David Harbour (Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian), Lewis Pullman (Bob/Sentry), Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Richards/the Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/Human Torch), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/the Thing), and Channing Tatum (Gambit) rounding out the cast.
Marvel Studios has slated Avengers: Doomsday to open December 18, 2026 in theaters (previously May 1), followed by Avengers: Secret Wars (also delayed from May 7 to Dec. 17, 2027).
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