After the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman, the actor who perfectly embodied the role of T’Challa/Black Panther, the upcoming sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has been surrounded by speculation regarding who will take up the mantle.
While we’re all squabbling over who will take on the role, who’s to say that it will be just one person to assume the mantle of Black Panther? In a franchise currently obsessed with multiverses and different actors portraying the same role, Wakanda Forever could be yet another to showcase variants.
Fans are generally expecting Letitia Wright’s Shuri to don her brother T’Challa’s Black Panther suit, with her being the natural heir to the Wakandan throne. In the comics, however, several others have taken the role, two of whom already exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
With three comic characters in the MCU, here’s how they could make at least two different characters become Black Panther.
Shuri
Widely considered to be the obvious choice, and with merchandise leaks suggesting this’ll be the case, Marvel and Disney may take issue with actress Wright’s public comments which have alienated the star from many hardcore fans of Black Panther. Wright has been a notable anti-vaxxer, and is alleged to have held up filming for the sequel due to her hesitation in getting vaccinated.
Wright also shared several videos on social media in 2020 in which she espoused transphobic and anti-Chinese rhetoric around vaccinations and COVID-19.
“I wasn’t against vaccines but it was important to ‘ask questions. my intention was not to hurt anyone, my ONLY intention of posting the video was it raised my concerns with what the vaccine contains and what we are putting in our bodies.”
Letitia Wright’s response to criticism of the video shared
Whether or not this did actively affect production of Black Panther 2 is unclear, but public controversy is not something Disney would be keen on, especially with how protective they are of their brand. Wright will without-a-doubt be a Black Panther, when the film releases though, but in the long term, it’s uncertain.
M’Baku
A fan favorite to take over from Boseman’s T’Challa as Black Panther, Winston Duke’s M’Baku is the leader of a Wakandan tribe who rejected technology and instead chose faith and spirituality. In the comics, M’Baku is typically a foe of Black Panther who goes by Man-Ape (yes, that’s a bad name). The MCU has given him a much more heroic side, with him an ally of T’Challa and helping him defeat Killmonger and Thanos.
M’Baku taking on Black Panther’s role entirely would work within the plot of Wakanda Forever following a war between Namor’s underwater kingdom of Tlālōcān and Wakanda. Perhaps the role of Black Panther becomes synonymous with being a war-time general in the film, and a symbol of renewed hope to the civilians.
The character has never taken up the mantle in comics, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not afraid of differing from its source material and essentially creating new characters.
Okoye
Much like how Wong appears in anything magic related in the MCU, Okoye is always there for some classic international espionage and political intervention. Okoye becoming a Black Panther would seem a natural progression of her role as a warrior who protected the Black Panther.
Played by Danai Gurira, she’s importantly one of the only Wakandan characters who survived the initial Thanos snap. We saw that after Strange was “snapped”, Wong became sorcerer supreme, so perhaps the five years allowed Okoye to ascend to the throne? With the combat skills, perhaps she can be one of several in the sequel to become Wakanda’s protector.
Nakia
Second billed on the cast, Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia was a close friend of T’Challa’s and help him reclaim his kingdom in the first film from Killmonger, and would be another stellar character to be a Black Panther. She’s not had the most screen-time as of yet in the MCU, but is a Disney favorite after her role as Maz Kanata in the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Given her performance in Jordan Peele’s Us, she might be the most surefire box office draw and the most well-known of the four actors and their characters.
Multiverse madness?
Marvel is having a field day nowadays with having different actors play variants of the same character. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man joined forces with Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire’s, so what’s to stop, say, Djimon Hounsou (who was once considered for the role) from showing up in the film?
Maybe a return of Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger from the What If…? series? He’s taken on the role before in comics, and wouldn’t it be one of the most devastating shocks if he did show up?
We’ll find out if there will be multiple Black Panthers in Wakanda Forever when the film hits screens on Nov. 11.