As part of the D23 Expo 2022 presentation for Marvel, fans got a glimpse into the upcoming slate for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and cast members from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Marvels, Captain America: New World Order, and Thunderbolts talked about what to expect from their characters in the years to come. From director Ryan Coogler, Wakanda Forever will dig deeper into the pain and grief that comes with losing your leader while you also have to find a way to continue to protect your way of life and all that is important to you.

After the presentation, co-stars Winston Duke (who plays M’Baku) and Tenoch Huerta (who plays Namor, leader of the Kingdom of Atlantis and antagonist to Wakanda) briefly spoke to Collider on the press line for this interview about what their first day on the set of the sequel was like, the melancholy that was present with their co-star and friend Chadwick Boseman gone, jumping right in with wire work, how much more we’ll get to see of M’Baku, finding Namor, having room to create and explore, and what a hypothetical M’Baku spinoff could be about.

Collider: What was the first day like, on this set? After the passing of Chadwick Boseman, you didn’t know what this movie was going to be, and then you got the script and read it. So, what was it like to walk onto set, that first day?

WINSTON DUKE: There was a lot of melancholy. In one way, it was very joyous to be back with people you love and care about, and who are open to just play and experiment and create. And then, it was really sad, not having our guy and our friend, who was someone we looked up to, and was someone who expressed that they looked up to you. It was just really sad not to have that someone we knew as a person, and not just this artifice on a screen. He was a real person and we really missed him. It was something that we dealt with, every day, and something that we got to understand, every day, that we’re not the only people grieving. Not only the people who are in front of camera are grieving, it’s everybody. So, it was a lot of melancholy.

TENOCH HUERTA: [My first day] was so crazy. I was so nervous. But you know what? On set with all these guys and with this family, I felt comfortable. I felt embraced. They know how to be a family. I was the adopted child of this family, but they made me feel totally comfortable. The first day was funny. I was hanging on wires. But everybody was there, waiting to create this new movie and this new story. It was really powerful.

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Image via Marvel Studios

Winston, what can you say about what we’ll see of your character in the sequel, especially because it feels like we’ve only gotten a taste of who he is?

DUKE: You’re getting tastes, all over the place, with M’Baku. You’re gonna see more. In some ways, he’s the same old M’Baku, where he’s very honest, very direct, and unapologetic. He’s so cool. But we also get an expansion of who he is. His role has grown. He’s survived so many of the current events of their world. He survived the Infinity War and End Game, and the great snap. He’s gone through that, and now he’s a part of the tribal council, and he’s more forward-facing in the world. You really get to see him grow im his role, and you see how everyone utilizes his presence. It just grows, so you’re gonna see a lot more. If you liked him, you’re getting more.

It’s obviously not a Marvel movie without a villain, so what is M’Baku’s involvement with that?

DUKE: I never think of Marvel villains as villains. They’re all so complex that I always just call them antagonists. They just want different stuff, and they’ll go head-to-head with our “heroes” to get what they want. And Marvel does such a good job of making their antagonists so palatable and worthy of redemption. M’Baku understands the complexity of the situation. In that way, his mind is always open, and it’s always working. I’m really excited for people to see the complexity inside this movie.

Tenoch, what was the moment for you, when you felt like you really owned the character of Namor?

HUERTA: I don’t know. It was a process. The first day, when I was hanging on the wires, at some point, I could feel everything in my shoulders, in a good way, and I realized what I was doing, at that moment. It was like, “Okay, this is big.” And then, with time, you keep going, and you discover pieces of the character. When you have this director, all the sets, and these people around you, it’s easier. They give you time, and they create an atmosphere where you can create. That’s beautiful. I’d never imagined that, in this big machinery and in this big industry, there was room for creation, but Ryan [Coogler] always created that atmosphere.

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Your character is so badass that I can’t wait to see more of how he fits into the story.

HUERTA: Me too! I haven’t seen anything.

The trailer was the best trailer I’ve seen for anything, in a long time.

HUERTA: It’s fantastic, right? That’s the tone of the movie. The script for Wakanda Forever was great.

Winston, if you could have your own M’Baku spinoff, that’s either a movie or a Disney+ series, what would you want it to focus on?

DUKE: Say that again, so that everyone can hear it. Say that again, for the people in the back. The Jabari-Lands are such a rich space of culture within Wakanda that it would be really cool to explore that. We’re speaking purely hypothetically here. We’re just spit-balling and dreaming. You’re dreaming with me, my tall friend. I like the idea of what M’Baku would be like, out in the world. That would be pretty cool because he’s not a character that we usually see exploring. I think his type of code of honor would be pretty cool to see interact with so many other things.

I feel like he’d have some things to offer everybody else.

DUKE: Yeah. He’s so cool.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be in theaters on November 11th.