WARNING: This article contains major character spoilers for Marvel's BLACK PANTHER. Read at your own peril.
Recently while speaking with the Toronto Sun, BLACK PANTHER director Ryan Coogler told the outlet that he was not thrilled about having to kill off a major player in the Marvel Universe. In the record breaking film featuring King T'Challah (Chadwick Boseman) of the magnificently mysterious world of Wakanda, the villain Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) takes Ulysses "Klaw" Klaue (Andy Serkis) off the board, and uses his lifeless body as a bargaining chip to gain access to his ancestral home of Wakanda. Klaue made his first appearance as a part of the MCU in Joss Whedon's AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, becoming instantly popular with fans due in-part to his wily nature and manic energy. His death in BLACK PANTHER was not only a surprise to fans, but also a harsh scene to shoot for Coogler.
“I like Klaw,” Coogler told Toronto Sun. “I was bugged by having to do that. It’s tough when you have to kill characters off and I really did love that character.”
Not only is Coogler a fan of the character, he's also an admirer of Serkis in general. “I love Andy, he’s a lovely person,” Coogler remarked. “But again, it’s one of those things where when you’ve got so many people in a movie, some of them have to go. Klaw in this movie, he’s just having a good time. Every scene he’s in, he’s walking in like it’s the best day of his life. He’s got a swagger to him that’s interesting and for me it was cool to see Andy act like that. It was a real pleasure.”
I could not agree more with Coogler's sentiments about Klaw. I think he's one of the most enjoyable villains to ever come out of the MCU, and I was really sorry (and shocked) to see him go.
Following Klaw's demise, BLACK PANTHER executive producer Nate Moore confirmed to Comicbook.com that yes, Klaw has indeed been taken off the board for good. He told the outlet as much by saying "[The decision] was made pretty early on because we knew ultimately that more than Ulysses Klaw, Killmonger was the main villain of the film," Moore explained. "And he's actually dead. He's dead, dead. Which I think, honestly, was part of the sell for Andy in going, 'Oh, I get to play this character that gets to sort of shine very brightly and burn out quickly. Well, that's kind of fun.' And we only like to tell as much story as we have for a character and I'm not sure how much other story we would have for Klaw, but we were still lucky to have Andy involved."
When commenting about his character's MCU curtain call, Serkis lamented by saying "I've had a tough year. I lost Caesar, I lost Snoke, and now I've lost Klaw. I am franchise free. I'm gutted, actually. I would've loved to go on," Serkis said. "But, who knows? Who knows…"
"Who knows," eh? Does this mean that perhaps we could see Serkis appear as another MCU character, further down the line? After all, I hear that Hollywood is doing some pretty amazing things with CGI and prosthetic makeup, these days. I mean, if I had my way, the man would be in everything. He's just that good.
BLACK PANTHER is available to own on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD, right now.