‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ star keeping her fingers crossed for an MCU return

With the nosedive of a Phase Five opener that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ended up being, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is deserving of quite a few more pats on the back than it’s been afforded so far.

It’s true that the Marvel Cinematic Universe may have a bit of a ceiling on anything not called Infinity War or Endgame, but laying claim to an Oscar-nominated performance amongst an impressive ensemble whilst cutting rather deeply into the theme of grief certainly raised the bar as far as recent projects are concerned.

Nevertheless, Wakanda Forever was, quite distinctly still a Marvel movie, complete with a captivating villain and an influx of new characters for Kevin Feige and co. to utilize in the events of the Multiverse Saga and beyond. Of course, we’re not just talking about Namor and Riri Williams, and one recent Marvel debutant hopes that one such reappearance is on the cards for her character.

In an interview with ScreenRant, actress Mabel Cadena – who portrayed Talokan warrior and Namor’s cousin Namora in Wakanda Forever – revealed just how deeply she was holding out hope for another chance to portray the instant favorite, while remaining steadfast in her assertion that she’s in the dark about the future of the tenacious Talokanian.

“I promise you, I don’t know anything about the future. I promise you! I swear. My last call was with Victoria, and I was very nervous about what she would say. Victoria just said, “Hey, have fun, rest, vacation.” She didn’t say anything about the future, so I don’t know what’s happening. I hope [a lot of things] happen, because I really want to continue playing Namora in the future.”

We’ll have to see how enthusiastic this sentiment is down the road; if Quantumania ends up being an omen for what’s in store, we wouldn’t be surprised if we saw some folks jump the Marvel ship a bit more frequently from here on out. We hope that’s not the case, given the many hearts that the franchise has swelled since its inception, but something has to give.