10 Best Final Lines From MCU Characters
2. "They Knew Death Was Better Than Bondage" - Erik Killmonger
The Line
"Just bury me in the ocean... with my ancestors that jumped from the ships. 'Cause they knew death was better than bondage."
Why It's Awesome
Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) remains one of the most compelling MCU antagonists to date - doggedly committed to ending both Wakanda's isolationist stance and Black disenfranchisement around the world by sparking a global revolution.
But during his final battle with a returning T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), Killmonger is fatally stabbed, and though T'Challa offers to use Wakanda's technology to save him, Killmonger patently refuses with a stunningly haunting retort.
Refusing to live the rest of his life as a Wakandan prisoner, Killmonger accepts his fate while invoking the demise suffered by so many Black slaves before him while seeking their own freedom.
This mic drop of a line ensured Killmonger's place in the pantheon of all-time best MCU villains, even if it's a damn shame we'll never get to see him again - outside of the ancestral plane, at least.