Will Wakanda Be Visited In THE AVENGERS 2 After All?

As production on Avengers: Age of Ultron began covertly yesterday in Johannesburg, South Africa, it was declared by the Gauteng Film Commission not only that the location would appear in the first 10 minutes of the sequel, but also that it would be portrayed as itself, as opposed to some other costly or nonexistent location. This seemed to have dismissed the notion that Marvel Comics' technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda, and its esteemed Black Panther, would finally be embraced in the shared cinematic universe. That dismissal may have come too soon though.

Drew McWeeny of HitFix has taken to Twitter to possibly confirm that Wakanda will in fact be one of many settings in The Avengers: Age of Ultron. More specifically, in response to a tweet which had acknowledged CBM's coverage of filming kicking off in South Africa, but not for Wakanda, the journalist simply tweeted, "that is not correct." Is McWeeny suggesting that the claims of the Gauteng Film Commission are untrue? Probably not. In retrospect, the film commission technically said that The Avengers: Age of Ultron would be filming "Johannesburg as Johannesburg." Their announcement last month stated that, in addition to South Africa's largest city, the production would also be shooting in "other parts of the Gauteng province," which has 10 other cities that could certainly double for Wakanda (with the help of CGI of course). Nevertheless, there's still no guarantee that we'll see T'Challa, the Black Panther, but if accurate, it's great to know that Marvel Studios and Joss Whedon are laying groundwork for the Wakandian's debut. In other Age of Ultron news, Latino Review's El Mayimbe also took to Twitter recently to reveal that End of Watch actress/model Natalie Martinez "went in for a role" in The Avengers sequel. He then asked his 21.1 thousand followers "Is it for Ms. Marvel? Hawkeye's wife? Smaller role?" What do you think?