I will die on this hill

Yes, Killmonger is the bad guy.

Because he kills people.

Not because of his motivations (being angry about European colonialism and the treatment of Africans around the world and across time) but by his actions- he kills. His means are his end- he kills people to kill people.

He kills people in service of his political goals. Just like in the real world, one does not buck colonial or imperial exploitation by asking nicely for freedom. One of the secondary propaganda goals of BP is to produce exactly the reaction that you have: that any violent struggle against empire or imperialsm is immoral. The Nazis weren't defeated by the USSR by asking them nicely to stop. The Cubans did not achieve revolution by asking the Mob and the US backed dictator to stop. The entire frame is apologetic for the US.

Isn't it interesting how the US role in Africa (AFRICOM being the largest imperial footprint in Africa) is quietly written out of the film? Marvel is truly heinous.

Yes, that's the point of villains like Killmonger, Thanos, and Magneto.

There are forces in the world that are evil. Those forces will kill for their ends. And to resist them often requires violence. But at some point the violence needs to end.

With Killmonger, Thanos, or Magneto, the violence doesn't stop until anyone and everyone who could resist them is dead. Just like the forces they were trying to stop.

Let's compare a moment in Age of Ultron- specifically when the Avengers first meet Ultron and The Twins. It's when Ultron is getting all that vibranium.

Steve "Wrapped in a Flag" Rogers stops and attempts to negotiate. To talk things out. Steve KNOWS the Twins are agents of Hydra. He's already met them, and they already tried to kill him. He knows that Ultron is going to do something really terrible. There's no reason he should try to talk to them.

But he still tries to talk. Of course, it doesn't work because they're the bad guys. Violence is the ONLY solution.

Put Killmonger in a similar situation. Would he stop to negotiate? Would he attempt to talk it out with the other side to find an equatable solution?

Nope. He would go straight to murder.

And that's what makes him the bad guy. There is never a point where he stops and says "hey, let's talk this out and come to a solution."

Violence is the first, best, and only solution.

That's why they're the bad guys.

I don't give a rats ass about the marvel universe, I am talking about the political subtext.