Avengers: Infinity War ended on about as dark a note as it possibly could. As Thanos wipes out half of the universe with a snap of his fingers, many of Marvel’s greatest heroes are reduced to dust – Black Panther, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Star-Lord, etc. But, some fans have already seen the bright side of this new status quo, as it could allow for an exciting future for one particular character.
Namely, Letitia Wright’s Shuri, T’Challa’s genius little sister. The princess of Wakanda really caught fire with viewers in Black Panther and, though she didn’t get much to do in Infinity War, the ending does suggest a cool new direction for her in Avengers 4. With her brother gone, it could fall to Shuri to become the new monarch of Wakanda and, by extension, the new Black Panther.
Comic book fans will know that there’s precedent for this, too, as Shuri’s become Black Panther in the source material as well. Plus, she designs all the hero’s tech, so it only makes sense for her to try it for herself at one point, right?
As many people have pointed out, there’s a very good chance of this happening. Though we don’t see Shuri once Thanos uses the power of the Infinity Gauntlet, we can assume that she’s still around to take charge of Wakanda. Having now lost her father and brother, it would definitely be a fascinating path to see this usually jovial, youthful character go down, don’t you think?
The only potential problem with this theory is that Avengers 4, along with its predecessor, was made before Black Panther came out and therefore, before it became the worldwide phenomenon that it is. As such, Marvel might not have predicted that Shuri would become as popular as she is now. Still, maybe the filmmakers saw the potential in the character and were smart enough to give her an interesting arc?
Let’s hope they did and that we see Shuri become the Black Panther in Avengers 4, which will be with us next May.