As of this writing, a lot of critics and online personality are singing the praises of Black Panther — and considering how well it’s being received across the board, why not? However, there’s one other aspect that’s receiving some real praise, and that’s its villain, Killmonger.

In the past, Marvel Studios has been criticized for their villains. As a studio starting out, they really made an effort to put the real focus on their heroes, and that resulted in such poor baddies as Ronan the Accuser and Malekith the Accursed. With Phase 3, they seem to have stepped up their villain game, and Black Panther looks to continue that very trend.

RELATED – Black Panther Actor On Playing A Rival Leader To T’Challa

However, while Killmonger may be the big bad of Black Panther, it almost didn’t turn out that way. Speaking with Yahoo! Movies, Coogler revealed the initial villain he wanted for the movie.

“Being a Marvel fan, you want to grab all the characters. You realise there’s contractual things. You don’t have that character. There was a Christopher Priest run that was pretty heavy, there’s a big scene where Panther’s fighting Kraven, Kraven the Hunter.”

“I’ve always loved Kraven the Hunter in almost every iteration. So there was a moment – ‘Can I grab Kraven?’ – and they were ‘Nah, you don’t have Kraven.’ He was one where I thought ‘Oh, man.’ But I don’t even know if he would have worked in the movie we ended up with, this was the early days.”

Admittedly, Kraven is a character that could be done well, but with his flamboyant look, it’s one that could be hard to pull off (though imagine someone like Jason Momoa taking him on). Given that he’s more of Spider-Man villain, I can’t help but wonder if Sony has the rights to him. With that in mind, and with the success of Black Panther, there is the possibility that a deal could be reached for a sequel.

What do you think? Is Kraven the Hunter a villain you’d like to see in Black Panther 2? Let us know your thoughts down below!

Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons on the top of this page.

SOURCE: Yahoo! Movies