All those things really told me that this guy’s deeply introspective and this guy’s deeply aware of himself, and how people perceive him. And he has agency because of that. He can use that and wield that to his advantage. You know what I mean? And I think that’s what’s really brilliant about this M’Baku, is he’s a thinking M’Baku. He’s a thinking, acting M’Baku who has fun and can find joy in all kinds of situations. He has tactics. So he knows how to intimidate. He knows how to make an appearance and use his size and stature, but he’s not what you think. That’s what I wanted to bring across, that he’s contemplative.

There’s been a lot of talk about the importance of this movie to black culture and the ideals of representation and equality. If you were seeing this film as a 12-year-old child of African descent, what would it mean to you and what do you think it’s going to mean to kids who will see this now?

I’m so excited and so moved at the idea of that. They’re going to be able to take in information and take in images and arguments and these ideas before they are completely formed. I’m a man. I’m an adult. I’m grown and I grew up under all the narratives and politics of my skin tone. I grew up under the politics of my size and my skin. I grew up under the politics of the sound of my voice and a lack of agency, or a feeling of a lack of agency, and not always being able to find myself in images that were in the media.

So to have kids be able to see this and see people represented with power, see people be able to change their lives either for the better or for the worse, see people who represent class and dignity, see black women with class, dignity, agency, strength, opinion, love, vulnerability… Before they’re formed. Before they’re told that they have to be the narratives that they’re told that they have to be. Before all the ‘isms’ of the world are placed on them, they get to consume, ingest and express this. That’s really beautiful and that’s important, and that’s something that I could never fully have imagined while doing the work for this film because there’s this film and then there’s the event around the film for what the film can mean. And I’m just deeply honored, and privileged to have been a part of it.

You are also in Avengers: Infinity War. What can you say about it?