Killmonger Cut — Collage of four black male characters from games and animation all wearing the Killmonger-style high-top dreadlocks haircut

Killmonger Cut

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Published October 28, 2026

Killmonger Cut, also known as the Swoop Haircut, is the faded-sides and braided-top style Michael B. Jordan wore as Erik Killmonger in Black Panther. By January 2024, Black gamers were cataloguing every video game character given the same look, and Tekken 8's Eddy Gordo redesign set off a round of 'this hairstyle is everywhere' comparison posts.

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Overview

Posts in the format place two or more screenshots side by side, usually of recent Black video game characters, to show how closely their hair matches the Killmonger template1. Phoenix from Valorant, Ekko from League of Legends, Lor-Zod from Young Justice and Miles Morales from Marvel's Spider-Man 2 appeared in some of the earliest round-ups3. The joke lands as frustration more than celebration: fans argue developers reach for one hairstyle instead of drawing from the full range of Black hair1.

IGN's reporting on the Killmonger Cut quoted Melanin Gamers founder Annabel Ashalley-Anthony saying 'you never needed to do this' about Eddy Gordo's redesign, with her brother Alan calling the Miles Morales version a let-down compared to the character's cleaner look in his own 2020 game1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter / Reddit (viral spread)
Date
2023

Black Panther hit theatres in early 2018, and Michael B. Jordan's Erik Killmonger arrived with the hair that would carry his name6. The style combines faded sides with a short top braided into locs that fall across the face.

The gaming-industry version of the discourse began on March 13, 2023, when Twitter user @tearswhenyoucry pointed out that four new Black characters in League of Legends had been given almost identical hairstyles2. That post sat quietly for most of a year before the comparison format caught on6.

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How It Spread

On July 31, 2023, Reddit user Juicexandski compiled Phoenix from Valorant, Ekko, Young Justice's Lor-Zod and Miles Morales from Marvel's Spider-Man 2 into a single /r/Dreadlocks post that collected over 450 points in seven months3.

Momentum arrived on January 14, 2024, when Bandai Namco revealed Tekken 8's Eddy Gordo with his signature free-flowing locs replaced by the Killmonger silhouette. @FGC_Daily tweeted 'Tekken has fallen' alongside a composite of other characters sharing the look, picking up more than 2,700 retweets and 15,000 likes in two months4.

Kotaku published a YouTube video on February 23, 2024, calling for an end to the 'Killmonger Swoop' on Black characters, which collected over 2,000 views in its first two weeks5. Five days later IGN ran a feature pointing to Eddy's redesign as the saturation point and interviewing Melanin Gamers about the pattern across Valorant, Spider-Man 2 and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown1.

Timeline

2018

Black Panther releases, introducing Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger and the hairstyle that will carry his name.

2023-03-13

Twitter user @tearswhenyoucry points out four new League of Legends characters sharing the Killmonger haircut.

2023-07-31

Redditor Juicexandski posts a /r/Dreadlocks round-up of Phoenix, Ekko, Lor-Zod and Miles Morales with the same cut.

2024-01-14

Tekken 8 reveals Eddy Gordo's Killmonger-style redesign; @FGC_Daily's 'Tekken has fallen' tweet collects over 15,000 likes.

2024-02-23

Kotaku publishes a YouTube video asking game developers to stop giving Black characters the 'Killmonger Swoop.'

2024-02-28

IGN runs a long feature calling Eddy Gordo's redesign the saturation point for the haircut in games.

How to Use This Meme

Comparison posts typically place two to four screenshots of Black video game characters side by side, with captions calling out the shared hairstyle4. The caption often names a specific new release and asks why so many characters now share the same style1.

Frequently Asked Questions