In Black Panther, the ancestral plane is where prospective panthers go after they consume the heart-shaped herb and have a near-death experience. It’s a gateway to the afterlife, where all your ancestors are (if you’re open to them, like T’Challa), but at the very least, your father can speak to you (as the more tunnel-visioned Killmonger found). However, if you’ve ever actually been to a family reunion, and most of us have, you know full well that not every relative is one you want to spend eternity with.
Enter T’Challa’s goofy uncle M’Buntu, played by Kenan Thompson. We all have one in our family: the goofy bald guy who likes to grill meat and be the center of attention with terrible dad-jokes. But he doesn’t necessarily have the poise that a royal family gathering requires. Also, he keeps forgetting that he’s dead.
When Sterling K. Brown was announced as Saturday Night Live host, most of us expected a Black Panther parody of some kind. Yet rather than spoofing his costars or playing his movie role of N’Jobu, Brown played T’Challa’s great grandfather, with Chris Redd as the current Wakandan monarch. He doesn’t look a lot like Chadwick Boseman, but he does sound like him.
Brown impressed with his many acting talents on the show, like his ability to get tearful on cue, but his resistance to cracking up here as Thompson keeps trying to force-feed him lion-meat burgers may be the biggest skill of all. And after Thor’s roommate Darryl appeared on all those extras, Uncle M’Buntu isn’t the huge stretch for the Marvel Universe that he might initially seem.
Was this Wakanda spoof worthy? Give us your thoughts below.
Plenty more Black Panther stories to see:
- Black Panther 2 might be the way to introduce Doctor Doom.
- The Black Panther cast do karaoke.
- How to make Vibranium Pie.
