Summary
- Marvel Studios has denied rumors of recasting T’Challa in Black Panther following Chadwick Boseman’s passing.
- The Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever, served as a tribute to Boseman and his character.
- Fans speculate on how T’Challa may be recast in the future, including potentially through multiverse shenanigans.
The Black Panther has been notably absent from the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the unfortunate passing of the man behind the mask, and the role has since become a nexus point for all sorts of rumors and updates about potential castings and recasting, with no official word from anyone at Marvel Studios until now.
Black Panther was a massive success in the vein of pretty much all MCU films of the era, but it went beyond the box-office performance and managed to garner real, tangible cultural significance in a way that transcended the genre and even the medium of superhero stories. While the writing, effects, and music were all top-tier and integral to the film’s success, Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa was very clearly the true heart and soul of the project. After the star regrettably succumbed to colon cancer in 2020, talk of the mantle passing on or the role being recast would float around, but the general consensus at the time was that Marvel recasting Black Panther’s T’Challa would be a mistake at best and an insensitive move so close following Boseman’s passing at worst.
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The general mood, shared by many executives and co-stars on the project, would prevail and the planned Black Panther sequel, Wakanda Forever, would instead serve as a tribute to Boseman and his character, further entrenching the idea of letting the mantle lie. Despite this contingent of fans being very vocal, time has passed and recent rumors have posited that Marvel Studios is ready to recast T’Challa ahead of Black Panther 3, and a high-ranking Marvel exec has finally weighed in on this rumor, as well as all the prior names floated as in line for the role. Speaking to Comicbook in a recent interview concerning Captain America: Brave New World, Marvel Studios’ VP of Production & Development cleared the air concerning the recasting process for Black Panther. “The truth is, there’s no truth to those rumors,” Moore said. “Never say never to anything, we haven’t really had a lot of creative conversations with Ryan Coogler yet, because he’s finishing his film Sinners, which comes out this year. We’ll get into it later this year, but everything you read online is not true, if for no other reason than we just haven’t started [working on it].” This statement throws all the casting rumors and updates under the bus, which is both good for fans and bad for the timeline of a potential third Black Panther film. However, the main takeaway is that there hasn’t been any discussion or concrete plans made so fans can dismiss any previous rumors as well as those that pop up in the near future.
There’s also been talk alleging that Captain America: Brave New World has a major Black Panther connection, and Moore actually upholds that connection when discussing the film’s surely impactful Adamantium plot point. “I’m sure Wakanda will have an opinion about the arrival of Adamantium. And I’m sure Wakanda had an opinion on Sam Wilson as Captain America,” he said. “Clearly, they seem to support him, as they’ve given him some technology to help him out. But Wakanda isn’t in the best graces with the U.S. government, so there’s a possibility for conflict in a lot of different ways. I think Wakanda, to me, gets to play in the same political thriller sandbox as Captain America because it does deal with globalization and global politics, so anything is possible.”
Some fans believe that if the character really does end up needing to be recast, the perfect actor to play T’Challa already exists in the MCU and he could be brought in for the part via a rare case of good multiversal shenanigans. Only time will tell if, when, and how Coogler and the studio will make the decision to recast T’Challa or crown another Black Panther, and who that might be. For now, fans will have to settle for keeping tabs on how Wakanda deals with new threats without T’Challa.
The Black Panther films are available to stream on Disney+.
Black Panther
- Release Date
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February 16, 2018
- Runtime
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134 Minutes
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Source: Comicbook