10 MCU Characters Who Died Way Too Soon

3. Zuri

Black Panther Zuri Forest Whitaker
Marvel Studios

Ahead of Black Panther's release, director Ryan Coogler referred to Forest Whitaker's character Zuri as "Black Panther's version of Obi-Wan Kenobi", so it wasn't terribly surprising that the Wakandan elder ended up slaughtered at the hand of an irate Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) mid-way through the film.

Even so, having the hero's sage adviser killed by the villain was about as trite and formulaic an arc as Zuri could've had.

Above all else, an actor of Whitaker's repute deserved much more than an extended cameo capped by an utterly emotionless, perfunctory death scene.

While it's definitely possible that Zuri could re-appear in Black Panther 2 if T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) re-visits the ancestral plane, the film missed a real trick by not having Zuri act as T'Challa's surrogate father figure of sorts.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.