Late last night, a new report revealed that Marvel Studios is considering reintroducing T’Challa into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Black Panther. This comes 4 years after the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman, who played the character in Black Panther, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, to much global praise. After his passing, many fans wondered how the MCU would proceed with the character, with fans split down the middle. Could Marvel Studios just recast the actor, or would they kill off the character? Director Ryan Coogler honored Boseman by having the character die of a random disease in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. However, the film’s climax introduces his sister Shuri (played by Letitia Wright) to her nephew, T’Challa, hiding in Hatai.
The report states that T’Challa is expected to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, Avengers: Secret Wars, and finally, the unannounced Black Panther 3. The most likely scenario with this “recasting” is that it’s not a recast at all. It can be assumed this new actor will actually be playing an older version of T’Challa’s son, T’Challa the second. He is either from the future of the main MCU timeline or a variant from throughout the multiverse. This workaround still honors Chadwick Boseman’s passing as the character but also has an older Black Panther going forward. Also, this version of Black Panther could eventually marry Storm, like in the comics, as Boseman’s version was forced to have a different love interest, Nakia (played by Lupita Nyong’o), due to the X-Men rights not being sold until after the original 2018 film. As this has yet to be announced by Marvel Studios, it should still be taken as just a rumor but still plausible.
Avengers: Doomsday is slated to hit theaters on May 1st, 2026
Source: The InSneider