10 MCU Characters Killed Off Way Too Early

Black Panther's brilliance notwithstanding, both of its major villains are snuffed out by the end of the film, and, considering that they both absolutely steal the show, in some respect it's a bitter disappointment that we likely won't be seeing them again.

One of these big bads is Erik Stevens, aka Killmonger. He turns up in Wakanda, revealing himself as N'Jadaka, the estranged cousin of King T'Challa, and seeks to take the throne for himself. Unjustly abandoned in the USA as a child, Erik wants to open the borders of Wakanda and share its advanced weaponry with the rest of the world.

T'Challa returns to reclaim his throne, by which point Killmonger has become the nation's new Black Panther. Deep within the vibranium mountain, the two engage in an epic duel, coming to an end when T'Challa stabs his cousin with his own blade.

"Death [is] better than bondage", he expresses as he succumbs to his wounds. As deaths go, this one is hugely impactful, but had T'Challa chosen to heal him and lock him away after all, the stage would potentially have been set for a return in a future film.