Of all the forks in the road that Kevin Feige and the Marvel Cinematic Universe were to encounter over the years, perhaps none came with more significance than the tragic death of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman in 2020. Although many were caught off guard by his secret battle with cancer for several years, director Ryan Coogler and his creative team wasted no time turning what became "Wakanda Forever" into a feature-length celebration of the actor's life and the void it left behind. with his passing. That meant acknowledging T'Challa's death with an in-universe explanation and handing the mantle to his supporting cast (namely his sister Shuri, played by Letitia Wright). rather than character transformation and moving forward with Coogler's original plans for the sequel. That choice seemed to set the tone for how the MCU would approach the Black Panther franchise for years to come ... but, if it's to be believed, a new rumor could add a whole new wrinkle.

In Jeff Sneider's latest newsletter for The InSneiderthe scoop claims that the studio appears to be rethinking T'Challa's future in the MCU. While it's important to note that Marvel offered no comment on the report, and that Snyder himself explains much of this as "based on what I'm hearing from sources at the agency," the rumors center around the idea of ​​a big focus on the multiverse moving forward. makes it increasingly likely that Marvel wants to recast T'Challa with another black actor. As Snyder explains:

“In fact, I heard that an actor was actually offered the role (of T'Challa) last fall, a few months after (Robert Downey Jr.'s) big reveal at Comic-Con, but they turned it down. not wanting to jeopardize their career momentum by stepping into Boseman's gigantic shoes, which may be too big to fill, even for the most talented black actors in Hollywood."

Are Shuri's days as our newest Black Panther already numbered? That seems to be the bulk of Jeff Snyder's latest report, but there may be a lot of room for interpretation once we start reading between the lines. For Snyder's part, he goes on to say that any reluctance on the part of the actors to accept the role is only a temporary concern: "But rest assured, someone will be willing to say 'Yes' and honor Boseman with their performance." " It's unknown if Marvel has plans to include T'Challa in upcoming blockbusters like Avengers: Judgment Day or Avengers: Secret War, but the report states that "it's fair to assume that whoever is cast how the character will reprise the role in Black Panther 3."

But what if it's not everything exactly what does it look like? Snyder seems pretty confident that the T'Challa his sources are referring to actually means Chadwick Boseman's character, but remember that "Wakanda Forever" introduced his and Nakia's (Lupita Nyong'o) newborn son in a post-credits scenealso called T'Challa. Isn't it possible (if not likely) that all this talk about remaking T'Challa is actually about an adult version of this character instead? That would certainly fit with the implications of that particular scene and Wakanda Forever in general, which relied heavily on the idea of ​​honoring Boseman's legacy through the characters closest to him.

Of course, it's also worth pointing out that the decision to retire the character from live-action (he's since appeared in several episodes of Marvel's animated series What If...) came with a certain amount of consternation among Marvel fans. T'Challa is an immensely popular character from the comics, and an argument could be made that keeping him in the mix throughout the MCU would be another way to pay tribute to Boseman. For now, we'll have to wait and see how Black Panther 3 shapes up, which it will likely feature Denzel Washington in an unknown role.