After T'Challa, it's Shuri who is next in line for the throne of Wakanda. However, during T'Challa's reign, she plays an equally if not more important role in Wakanda's security and prosperity according to Chadwick Boseman. "
Her role is the most important. In the comic book, T'Challa is a scientist and a king, but my sister is the whiz kid. She is the one with that gift. She's the Tony Stark of Wakanda. She's witty, she's cool, she's funny. Now, T'Challa is good in science too, but she's the whiz. That's the way the story's been told forever. T'Challa is technologically sound. He's a scientist as well, but she's the minister of technology."
In an earlier interview, Wright described Shuri as, "
She's princess of Wakanda, but also she designs all of the new technology there. She has an innovative spirit and an innovative mind, and she wants to take Wakanda to a new place. Also, she has a great fashion sense, better than mine."
With Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa only recently making his MCU debut, the likelihood of Letitia Wright's Shuri suiting up in the Black Panther suit is highly unlikely. However, every year there's chatter that Robert Downey Jr. may be looking to make his MCU exit so perhaps Kevin Feige and co. are strategically positioning Shuri to take Stark's place as the leading scientific mind in the MCU post- Phase 3?
Black Panther arrives in theaters and IMAX on February 16, 2018.