18 Most Heartbreaking Moments In The MCU (So Far)

In a film that struck many chords, both culturally and emotionally, Michael B. Jordan's Eric Killmonger was a standout performance, as a villain both cruel and unbearably tragic. His arc is one of loss and abandonment that led him to rage and hatred, but his pride in his people shines through regardless.

The scene where he meets his father in the Ancestral Plane is particularly emotional, with Killmonger's Ancestral Plane, unlike T'Challa's wide open African landscape, manifesting as the apartment block where he grew up. He meets his father as a child, and N'Jobu mourns that his son was never able to experience the love and community of his motherland.

It is, however, Killmonger's death that really closes off his arc in a meaningful way. After their battle, T'Challa brings a mortally wounded Killmonger to watch a Wakandan sunset, which Killmonger's father had told him was the most beautiful sight in the world.

Despite T'Challa's offer to save him, Killmonger instead kills himself, saying "Bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, because they knew death was better than bondage," showing that Killmonger feels more connected to the diaspora and their struggles, than the lofty, closed-off community Wakanda had created for itself.