It seems we'll soon have two Black Panthers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the same.
Back in January, The Hot Mic's Jeff Sneider reported that "Marvel is looking to recast its Black Panther hero T'Challa ahead of the two Avengers movies and Ryan Coogler's Black Panther 3."
It was generally assumed this would either be a Multiversal variant of the character played by the late Chadwick Boseman, or an older version of his son. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever concluded with Shuri (Letitia Wright) meeting her nephew - also named T'Challa - the child Boseman's hero had with Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o).
Since the original rumor, we have heard conflicting reports about Marvel's plans for Wakanda's protector, with other sources claiming that Shuri will retain the mantle going forward. We now know that Wright is set to reprise the role for Avengers: Doomsday, but she might just be joined by a second Panther.
According to MTTSH, "There will be a second Black Panther in Avengers: Doomsday." The scooper believes that this will indeed be T'Challa and Nakia's son, and not a variant of the original character.
Though the Russo Brothers denied that it was official, the (allegedly) leaked Doomsday concept art that did the rounds online back in March depicted a new Black Panther with what appeared to be Snowfall actor Damson Idris' likeness. This doesn't mean that he's been cast in the role, of course, but it may give us some idea of the type of actor the studio is looking at.
If a new Panther does debut in Doomsday and Shuri passes on the mantle, it will be interesting to see how T'Challa's sister's role in the MCU evolves heading into Secret Wars and beyond.
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were recently hit with significant delays, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
You can check out the full (for now) Doomsday cast list below.
• Paul Rudd as Ant-Man
• Simu Liu as Shang-Chi
• Tom Hiddleston as Loki
• Lewis Pullman as Sentry
• Florence Pugh as Yelena
• Danny Ramirez as Falcon
• Ian McKellen as Magneto
• Sebastian Stan as Bucky
• Winston Duke as M’Baku
• Chris Hemsworth as Thor
• Kelsey Grammer as Beast
• James Marsden as Cyclops
• Channing Tatum as Gambit
• Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
• Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm
• Rebecca Romijn as Mystique
• Patrick Stewart as Professor X
• Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler
• Letitia Wright as Black Panther
• Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor
• Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards
• Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost
• Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm
• David Harbour as Red Guardian
• Robert Downey Jr as Doctor Doom
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing
• Anthony Mackie as Captain America