Man-Ape
Artwork from Black Panther #49.
Art by Sal Velluto.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Avengers #62
(March 1969)
Created byRoy Thomas
John Buscema
In-story information
Alter egoM'Baku
SpeciesHuman mutate
Team affiliationsLethal Legion
Masters of Evil
Villains for Hire
PartnershipsGrim Reaper
Saboteur
Notable aliasesWhite Gorilla
Abilities
  • Superhuman strength, agility, stamina and durability
  • Expert hand to hand combatant

Man-Ape (M'Baku) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema, the character first appeared in The Avengers #62 (March 1969). Man-Ape is depicted as a frequent adversary of the superhero Black Panther.[1]

Man-Ape has made scattered appearances on animated television series and video games while Winston Duke portrays a variation of the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).

Publication history

Man-Ape first appeared in The Avengers #62 (March 1969). He was created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema.[2]

Fictional character biography

M'Baku was born in Wakanda. He became one of Wakanda's greatest warriors, second only to the Black Panther. He plotted to usurp the throne of Wakanda with the help of the outlawed rival White Gorilla Cult and return Wakanda to a primitive state.[3] M'Baku became a renegade and gains his powers by killing a white gorilla, bathing in its blood, and eating its flesh, taking the alias of Man-Ape. He fought with the Black Panther and was believed to be killed when the Panther Totem that he bound Black Panther to crumbled and buried him instead.[4][5] He is revived by his aide N'Gamo and goes to America where the Black Panther is with the Avengers at the time.[6]

He allies himself with the original Lethal Legion made up of Grim Reaper, Living Laser, Power Man, and Swordsman. He is the first member met by the Avengers. He attacks Captain America, but is beaten back by the rest of the Avengers. He then captures the Black Panther's girlfriend Monica Lynne, binding her hand and foot with metal clamps. The Black Panther is lured into a trap and knocked out by an exploding dummy of Monica. He is chained up and meets the other members. The Legion straps him and Monica to chairs before leaving, though he is able to escape and contact the other members, before the Grim Reaper defeats him. The Legion is defeated by the Avengers after Vision overcomes Power Man and frees the other members.[7] Man-Ape bests Black Panther again until he is defeated by Captain America.[8] Black Panther banishes Man-Ape from Wakanda on order of execution if he returns.[8]

Man-Ape later joins a new Lethal Legion (consisting of the Grim Reaper, Black Talon, Goliath (Erik Josten's latest alias), Nekra, and Ultron-12) and battles Tigra,[9] but abandons the Grim Reaper alongside Black Talon when the Reaper's racism became too much for him to tolerate.[10]

Man-Ape travels to uninhabited parts of the world before joining Crimson Cowl's incarnation of the Masters of Evil which is defeated by the Thunderbolts.[11]

Despite his rivalry with T'Challa, M'Baku was invited to the wedding of T'Challa and Ororo Munroe (also known as Storm of the X-Men), where he gets drunk on scotch and tries to pick a fight with Spider-Man.[12]

Man-Ape is next seen at the end of Heroes for Hire #6, teamed with Grim Reaper & Saboteur.[13]

Man-Ape is reportedly killed by Morlun while defending his people from Morlun's attack on the Man-Ape's kingdom. But before his apparent death, he sends an envoy to Wakanda to warn them of the approaching danger.[14] Man-Ape later appears alive as a member of Purple Man's Villains for Hire.[15]

Powers and abilities

The Man-Ape gained superhuman powers by consuming the flesh of a sacred white gorilla and bathing in white gorilla blood, enchanting him through the mystical transference of the abilities of the rare Wakandan white gorilla.[16][17] M'Baku's mystically augmented powers include superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina and durability equal to that of the mystical Wakandan white gorilla.

He has extensive formal military training in hand-to-hand combat from the Wakandan Royal Militia.

Reception

Accolades

  • In 2018, ComicBook.com ranked Man-Ape 3rd in their "8 Best Black Panther Villains" list[18] and included him in their "7 Great Villains for Black Panther 2" list.[19]
  • In 2020, CBR.com ranked Man-Ape 2nd in their "Marvel: Ranking Black Panther's Rogues Gallery" list.[20]
  • In 2022, Screen Rant included Man-Ape in their "15 Most Powerful Black Panther Villains" list.[21]
  • In 2022, CBR.com ranked Man-Ape 3rd in their "10 Most Iconic Black Panther Villains" list.[22]

Other versions

JLA/Avengers

In the 2003–2004 intercompany crossover JLA/Avengers, Man-Ape is among the mind-controlled villains who attack the heroes as they assault Krona's Stronghold and fights Big Barda.[23]

Ultimate Marvel

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, M'Baku is the name of T'Challa's older brother. After the young T'Challa failed to complete the "Trial of the Black Panther", M'Baku derided him, saying that he should have taken the trial instead. Later, angry that his father had decided to share Wakanda’s technology in exchange for America’s help in saving T’Challa’s life, M'Baku left the kingdom.[24]

In other media

Television

Film

M'Baku appears in films set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), portrayed by Winston Duke. This version is the leader of the renegade Jabari Tribe, who shun Wakanda's technological society and have a religious reverence for gorillas, such as decorating their armor with white gorilla pelts[26][27] and worshiping the gorilla god Hanuman as a part of complex Indo-African religion rather than the Panther goddess Bast. He is introduced in Black Panther,[28] and makes subsequent appearances in Avengers: Infinity War,[29] Avengers: Endgame,[30] and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.[31]

Video games

References

  1. ↑ Wells, John (2014). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1965-1969. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 270. ISBN 978-1605490557.
  2. ↑ DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  3. ↑ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Super-Villains. New York: Facts on File. p. 203. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
  4. ↑ The Avengers #62
  5. ↑ Brevoort, Tom; DeFalco, Tom; Manning, Matthew K.; Sanderson, Peter; Wiacek, Win (2017). Marvel Year By Year: A Visual History. DK Publishing. p. 135. ISBN 978-1465455505.
  6. ↑ The Avengers #78 (July 1970)
  7. ↑ The Avengers #78-79 (July-Aug. 1970)
  8. 1 2 The Avengers #79 (Aug. 1970)
  9. ↑ The West Coast Avengers #1-2
  10. ↑ Vision and Scarlet Witch vol. 2 #2
  11. ↑ Thunderbolts #24-25 (March–April 1999)
  12. ↑ Black Panther vol. 4 #18
  13. ↑ Heroes for Hire #6
  14. ↑ Black Panther vol. 4 #4
  15. ↑ Villains for Hire #3
  16. ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #3
  17. ↑ C. B. R. Staff (2018-03-04). "M'Baku: 15 Things Fans Never Knew About Black Panther's Man-Ape". CBR. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  18. ↑ "The 8 Best Black Panther Villains". Marvel. Retrieved 2022-10-16.
  19. ↑ "7 Great Villains for 'Black Panther 2'". Marvel. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  20. ↑ Epps, De'Angelo (2020-12-07). "Marvel: Ranking Black Panther's Rogues Gallery". CBR. Retrieved 2022-10-16.
  21. ↑ Harn, Darby (2021-09-25). "15 Most Powerful Black Panther Villains". Screen Rant. Retrieved 2022-10-16.
  22. ↑ Eckhardt, Peter (2022-11-30). "10 Most Iconic Black Panther Villains". CBR. Retrieved 2023-01-03.
  23. ↑ JLA/Avengers #4. DC Comics.
  24. ↑ Ultimate Captain America Annual #1. Marvel Comics.
  25. ↑ "The Panther and the Wolf". Avengers Assemble. Season 5. Episode 4. October 7, 2018. Disney XD.
  26. ↑ Breznican, Anthony (July 13, 2017). "How Black Panther solves the problem of M'Baku". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on July 15, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  27. ↑ "Black Panther: Creating a New M'Baku". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2018-02-15.
  28. ↑ Kroll, Justin (September 28, 2016). "'Black Panther' Taps 'Person of Interest' Actor Winston Duke to Play M'Baku (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on September 30, 2016. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  29. ↑ Pritchard, Tom (November 29, 2017). "Avengers: Infinity War Breakdown: Everything We Spotted in the First Trailer" Archived 2017-11-30 at the Wayback Machine. Gizmodo,
  30. ↑ Baumgartner, Scott (March 31, 2019). "Winston Duke on How 'Avengers' Will Top Itself with 'Endgame'". ET Online. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  31. ↑ Gearan, Hannah (July 26, 2022). "Black Panther 2 Star Teases M'Baku & Jabari Tribe's New Role In Wakanda". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on July 28, 2022. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  32. ↑ "LEGO Marvel Avengers first DLC packs get release dates". 17 March 2016.
  33. ↑ Becker, Daniel (June 14, 2017). "LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 Character List From E3 Live Stream!". Bricks to Life. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
  34. ↑ @leowyld (November 20, 2017). "@JayShockblast I know you like to..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  • Man-Ape at Marvel.com
  • Man-Ape at The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
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