The first full trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever just landed to wake us all up this Monday, delivering something we’ve been waiting ages for in the process. Obviously, the big question going into the Ryan Coogler sequel is who will be the new Black Panther following the loss of Chadwick Boseman, with King T’Challa also being written out of the story.
Well, while Marvel has been keeping mum on the identity of the next person to take up the mantle, the trailer finally offers up our first look at Wakanda’s latest protector, with its final shot presenting an epic hero shot of the new Black Panther. Again, although it’s not entirely confirmed who is in this kickass upgraded suit, it does indicate they are female, which essentially tells us that the new Panther is who we’ve been suspecting all along.
Peoples of the Marvel fandom, your Black Panther:
Yes, this seemingly confirms that Wakanda’s very own genius princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) will take up her brother’s former mantle as her nation’s defender. Fans have been predicting the character would become the Panther ever since we met her in 2018’s origins movie, given her brief stint in the suit in the comics. This speculation only intensified after it was confirmed T’Challa would not feature in the follow-up film.
Some pondered if M’Baku (Winston Duke) or even a resurrected Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) might step up as the next Panther instead, but they were always outside contenders. The most natural place for the story to progress was with Shuri as its new hero. Having said that, there may still be a twist in the tale here and that might be, say, Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) or Okoye (Danai Gurira) under that helmet. Or maybe even Michaela Coel’s new character, Aneka.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is coming to blow our collective socks off when it enters theaters from Nov. 11.
