When Chadwick Boseman died in 2020 at the age of 43, Marvel Studios decided not to recast the role of T’Challa, and instead had Leitita Wright’s Shuri inherit the Black Panther mantle in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the 30th of the Marvel movies in order. However, not only did we learn in Wakanda Forever’s end-credits scene that the late superhero’s son, Toussaint, also has the Wakandan name T’Challa, it was also rumored earlier this month that casting is underway to find someone to play a different version of an adult T’Challa. While this has yet to be officially confirmed, there’s now word on when this particular Black Panther will debut.
If scooper @MyTimeToShineHello (via ComicBookMovie) is to be believed, the plan is to feature the new T’Challa in the upcoming Marvel movies Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, then have him take center stage for Black Panther 3, which Denzel Washington will appear in. With both those movies being capstones to The Multiverse Saga that’s been running since 2021, it stands to reason that this T’Challa will hail from another corner of the Marvel multiverse. What hasn’t been clarified is if this will be a fully-grown take on Toussaint or a variant of the T’Challa Chadwick Boseman played, though my money’s on the latter.
Whomever it ends up being, this echo how Chadwick Boseman debuted as T’Challa in Captain America: Civil War, then starred in Black Panther two years later. Assuming all this is accurate, Marvel Studios wants to follow suit by having Doomsday and Secret Wars serve as an appetizer of sorts for this new T’Challa to show off his stuff. Then once the threat of the Robert Downey Jr.-portrayed Doctor Doom and the villains allied with him as been vanquished, Phase 7 launches the next saga, and Black Panther 3 will be part of that slate. Now I wonder if this T’Challa would be active in the main MCU reality or operating in a different universe in the threequel, though the answer to that question should become clearer once Secret Wars is out.
The scooper also shared in an earlier post that John David Washington, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Aaron Pierre are being looked at to play the new T’Challa. Take that with an especially big grain of salt for now, especially with Pierre, as he’s going to be busy playing John Stewart in the upcoming DC TV show Lanterns. The only concern I have about this recasting, assuming it’s true, is that I worry this will result in Shuri being sidelined, which I don’t want to happen. She’s the current Black Panther and she should be able to hold onto that mantle for longer than just the latter half of Wakanda Forever.
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars respectively come out on May 1, 2026 and May 7, 2027, though ideally we’ll get an official confirmation or denial of a new Black Panther appearing in either movie sometime later this year. For now, stream all of the MCU’s Black Panther-related content with a Disney+ subscription.
