Killmonger's Black Panther Scars Were Made from 3,000 Prosthetic Dots

CBR

By Ananda Dillon

Published May 4, 2018

Be glad your morning routine isn't two and a half hours long after watching this Black Panther behind-the-scenes video on Killmonger's many scars.

Marvel's Black Panther is the sort of superhero film where the differences between the motivations of the hero and those of the villain are so subtle it calls for ethical pondering and debate. It's also difficult to decide who's better to look at, Killmonger or T'Challa. Michael B. Jordan's depiction of Killmonger got people thirsty for a number of reasons, but the moment he removes his jacket to show off the many, many scars for every life he took, it got a little more difficult toÂ focus on his impending fight with the hero.A mesmerizing video by Insider shows how those 3,000 scars wereÂ placed on Michael B. Jordan's body by themakeup artists, and just how difficult it was to keep them there.

While it should be disturbing to consider that Killmonger had to kill 3,000 people to get to be the merciless antagonist and rival for the throne of Wakanda, one can't help but consider how beautiful the scars look as well.

Morphology FX founder and makeup artis Joel Harlow, came up with Killmonger's look using 3,000 prosthetic beads glued to his body. Harlow points out that the water fight scene between Killmonger and T'Challa was the hardest onÂ the carefully placed prosthetics. A scene with that much action means body friction, and water,Â as they say, is "the natural enemy of makeup." After two and a half hours spent in the makeup chair each morning, it must be nerve-wracking to watch a scene where it could all come undone so easily.

Harlow also did the makeup for Daniel Kaluuya's W'Kabi, who has similar dots on his face, as well as Isaach De BankolÃ©'s lip disc, the traditional accessory worn byÂ the River Tribe Elder.

Coming to digital and 4K UHD on May 8 and Blu-ray and DVD on May 15, director Ryan Cooglerâ€™s Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman as Tâ€™Challa/Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan as Nâ€™Jadaka/Erik â€œKillmongerâ€ Stevens, Lupita Nyongâ€™o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Forest Whitaker as Zuri and Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue.