November will see the arrival of the last project of Marvel from phase 4 of their plans. The 4th phase of MCU movies and tv shows has received mix reviews from audiences and critics on the whole but it seems that Marvel to end this phase with a bang as the final movie to cap it off is the sequel to 2018’s Black Panther , Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
The sequel comes in the wake of the death of the lead actor from the previous film, Chadwick Boseman who died in 2020 due to Colon Cancer. Chadwick played the character of T’challa, who wore the titular mantle of Black Panther. In the wake of Chadwick’s death, the films creators decided to not re-cast the character but rather let T’challa pass away in the films, so as to end the character’s legacy with Boseman, since fans cannot imagine anyone else playing the character.
But with T’challa dead in the movies, the question is, who gets to carry on the mantle of the Black Panther, as that is still the title of the movie.
Many are speculating that the mantle will pass on to the character of Shuri, the little sister of T’challa, played by Letitia Wright . The transition makes perfect sense, since it has been made clear in the film that the mantle of Black Panther is passed down in the royal family and the only remaining young member of the royal family of Wakanda is Shuri.
Footage from the film revealed to the public so far does show that Letitia Wright is in significantly better shape for this movie than she has been in previous appearances in the MCU, indicating that she will be involved in much more action.
However, when Letitia was asked head on whether she will be becoming Black Panther in this film in an interview with Empire, she gave a vague but perhaps even more telling answer. She said that becoming Black Panther is something she had discussed with the directors of the film even when they were making the first movie and Chadwick was still alive. Her full quote is as follows:
“That’s a tricky question to answer. I had a chat about it with Ryan and Chad when we were making Black Panther, and we touched on it briefly. When I realised I was playing Shuri, it was something that I really looked forward to.”
Letitia neither confirmed nor denied but simply implied its been discussed; classic response from Marvel actors trying to keep secrets.
