(SPOILERS) Marvel fans know that characters who die rarely stay dead, yet Michael B. Jordan‘s appearance in the hit Black Panther: Wakanda Forever still managed to be a jaw-dropper.

Now that the cat — or panther — is out of the bag, Jordan explained to Extra what it took to keep the surprise quiet.

Jordan says with a laugh, “I had to lie to my family over here!”

He continued, “I had to lie to everybody out here … I had to just keep it under wraps.”

In the film, his N’Jadaka/Erik “Killmonger” Stevens — who was killed by Chadwick Boseman‘s T’Challa in the original film — makes his surprise appearance from the Great Beyond after T’Challa’s sister, Shuri, takes the mystical heart-shaped herb.

Doing so temporarily transports a person to the ancestral plane, where a relative guides you on a spiritual path. However, while Shuri was sure she’d see her brother or her mom, Queen Romanda, her heart is filled with vengeance, so she instead encounters the spirit of her villainous cousin, who was also seeking revenge. She keeps the disturbing revelation secret — like MBJ had to in real life.

Jordan added, “When you’re dealing with Marvel and stuff like that, you know the routine. So you just gotta, you know, deny, deny, deny, deny, deny until the end of it, yeah.”

Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has reigned at the top of the box office for the past four weeks. The film has made more than $733 million worldwide.

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