So far, we’ve seen comics for The Astonishing Ant-Man, a new Doctor Strange, and a new Captain Marvel. But what about Black Panther? All four heroes are getting their own movies within the Marvel Cinematic Universe; Paul Rudd plays Scott Lang, Benedict Cumberbatch plays Stephen Strange, no one has been announced as Carol Danvers just yet, and Chadwick Boseman will make his debut as T’Challa in Captain America: Civil War. Considering the pattern of releasing comic arcs alongside film counterparts, what does the future of the Black Panther comic look like?
During the Q&A portion of the Marvel’s All-New, All-Different Avengers panel at Comic-Con, one fan asked comic book editor Tom Brevoort about this glaring omission. Brevoort replied by saying that not all of Marvel’s post-Secret Wars titles have been announced, and that he would neither confirm nor deny a new Black Panther series. However, he admitted that we should probably expect one, given Marvel’s pattern of developing comics alongside the films.
Earlier in the panel, comic book writer Nick Spencer presented The Astonishing Ant-Man to the crowd, describing how it will continue telling the story of Scott Lang and his relationship with Cassie in volume 2. In noting that Ant-Man will make its debut in theaters next week on July 17, he expressed his hope for everyone to go see it. He said that if the film does well, he’ll have more freedom on the comics side to continue the Astonishing series.
On the film side, Avengers: Age of Ultron shook up the MCU, and presumably Ant-Man and Civil War will shake things up even more. Based on the upcoming slate of releases, there are new characters coming in to either join or replace the current lineup of Avengers, including Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther. To promote the former two, Marvel announced plans for a new Strange comic, featuring an entirely new, axe-wielding take on the Sorcerer Supreme and how he sees the world. The Captain Marvel run (which was created by Agent Carter producers-writers Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters) will see Danvers officially leading her own team as Earth’s first line of defense. Considering also the new takes on Hawkeye (All New Hawkeye will feature "old man Barton"), The New Avengers, The Uncanny Avengers, and similar new titles, it seems likely that a potential Black Panther comic will follow along these same lines.
Boseman will debut alongside Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. on the big screen in Captain America: Civil War, which hits theaters on May 6, 2016. His solo Black Panther movie will drop on July 6, 2018. There’s still lots of time to introduce a new comic book take, but the fact that we still don’t have one, and that T’Challa will be the second of the new heroes making their way to the silver screen, seems odd.
