Following the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman last summer, we’ve all been expecting Letitia Wright’s Shuri to inherit the mantle of the title hero in Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, even if some people would rather see her fired after her controversial opinions reportedly made it online.
We’d already been hearing for years that the long term plan for the franchise was for Shuri to follow her comic book arc and ultimately become her nation’s protector, so it’s reasonable to assume that Marvel are simply accelerating that timeline under the most unfortunate of circumstances.
However, a new rumor from the moderators at r/MarvelStudioSpoilers reveals that a fan favorite will purportedly get to suit up as Black Panther at some point during the movie, just not on a permanent basis. As per the leak, Danai Gurira’s Okoye will don the threads, presumably to lend an assist in one of the many action sequences.
The Walking Dead alumn is the only name confirmed for the in-development Disney Plus spinoff series that was announced earlier this year, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine Black Panther: Wakanda Forever laying some of the groundwork for the streaming exclusive, even if Okoye’s stint as a superhero is said to be fleeting.