Recently, we brought you the news that Marvel is planning to replace T’Challa as Black Panther in the MCU. Chadwick Boseman won’t be leaving the franchise but, in either Black Panther 2 or 3, he’ll hand over the Panther title in order to be a fulltime king to the people of Wakanda. But who’s going to replace him?
Well, We Got This Covered has been told that it’ll be his genius sister, Shuri, as played by Letitia Wright. This is something that fans have been theorizing about for a while now, too, as the princess has gained the powers of the Panther in the comics.
At one stage, we were even expecting her to replace her brother in Avengers: Endgame. It didn’t happen as soon as that, but it sounds like the popular theory may become a reality in just a few short years. And given that Shuri stole the show in 2017’s Black Panther, her promotion should go down smoothly with the fans.
Bumping Shuri up to Black Panther status would also fit with Kevin Feige’s plans to diversify the MCU even more in the near future. In fact, if an Ironheart movie happens – as a Facebook URL nabbed by Marvel seems to suggest – that could mean we’ll have two franchises starring a black female lead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That’s currently unheard of in superhero cinema.
Of course, there are other characters who could take on the mantle just as well – Okoye, M’Baku, Nakia – but maybe having Shuri go from teen tech genius to superhero offers more story potential. The only downside of plans for a new Black Panther is that we won’t have as much of Boseman’s version as we’d like. But then again, even if Shuri takes over in BP2, the actor would have been Wakanda’s protector across 5 movies, so maybe it’s time for his royal retirement?