We know that Black Panther 3 is filmmaker Ryan Coogler's next movie, and it's previously been rumoured that the movie will kick off the post-Avengers: Secret Wars MCU in February 2028.
Now, that's seemingly been confirmed by The New York Times. The site recently spoke with Coogler about Sinners, and the piece reveals that the Marvel Studios threequel is currently "expected" to arrive in theaters in 2028.
The filmmaker also reflected on recently making an emotional speech while honouring the late Chadwick Boseman with a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. "I took him for granted. I figured he’d always be around," Coogler said.
"I didn’t think I would last in this industry, looking at it pretty fatalistically," he continued. "Then Chad died, so I was questioning everything." That extended to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and Coogler admits that the experience strengthened his resolve to continue telling stories.
"There were points in that movie where it felt unfinishable," he said of the sequel, "so when we put it out and I was happy with the film, I felt like, 'OK, I could do this for the rest of my life.'"
Asked if he's contemplated what his post-Black Panther 3 career looks like, Coogler responded, "To be honest with you, yes. The image I get is a green meadow with Bay Area fog on it, and it’s dawn. That’s what I see after that movie, because it feels like open land, open opportunity."
It sounds an awful lot like Black Panther 3 will be Coogler's MCU send-off, though he did say that, "I’m so fired up about that movie, bro," suggesting he's very much looking forward to telling another story in that world (rather than it being a contractual obligation, for example).
Black Panther was released in 2018 to widespread critical acclaim and a massive $1.3 billion worldwide. The sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, grossed $859 million worldwide in 2022 and was similarly considered a success in the post-COVID landscape for superhero movies.
Chadwick Boseman died in 2020 following a hard-fought battle with cancer. The actor's passing sent shockwaves through Hollywood, forcing Marvel Studios to go back to the drawing board with its planned Black Panther sequel. Shuri took over from T'Challa in 2021's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Original plans for the movie were much different.
The idea had been for it to deal with the fallout from Avengers: Endgame, with T'Challa returning from the "Blip" to learn his son had been born while he was among the dead. From there, we'd have followed the hero getting to know his child while likely battling Namor the Submariner. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever instead dealt with the fallout from the hero's demise in-universe and followed Shuri as she inherited the Black Panther mantle.
Denzel Washington is expected to join the cast of Black Panther 3, and F1: The Movie star Damson Idris is rumoured to be the new T'Challa (all signs point to him making his MCU debut in Avengers: Doomsday).