Find out which other Marvel characters could have taken on the Black Panther costume in “Wakanda Forever”, the superhero’s new adventure.
SPOILERS – “Warning, the article below contains potential spoilers. If you do not wish to know the content, please do not read the following…”
Following the sudden passing of Chadwick Boseman in the summer of 2020, the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever team had to find a new actor to replace him in the Black Panther saga and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And if the film opted for a fairly natural and obvious solution, several other names had been mentioned.
The co-writer of the Black Panther films, Joe Robert Cole, told Rolling Stone that the choice of Boseman’s replacement was a serious one and not a categorical one:
We were tossing around ideas and trying to extrapolate where the story would go and which choice would be most impactful – the best path. And what might be interesting for the future of these characters after [Wakanda Forever]. M’Baku’s name has been considered a bit, that’s for sure.
In other words, it was about them choosing someone who would be interesting to see wearing the mask in view of the future of the franchise and the MCU as a whole. And obviously, M’Baku (Winston Duke), who we see at the end of the film challenging the Black Panther, was one of the suitors.
marvel studios M’Baku
But one name came up more frequently:
“Shuri is the Black Panther [des comics] and it is therefore naturally organic, if I may say so, that she takes up the torch. But you explore every single idea and want to make the best decision for the story.”
Because if obviously Shuri who was chosen and this for many reasons, the author also confides that the name of Nakia was proposed to wear the mask of the Black Panther.
marvel studios
Nakia
Widowed by T’Challa, she would also have had an interesting inner trajectory to explore. The film also reveals that she had a child with the king of Wakanda, Toussaint aka “T’Challa”, a decision that was already present in the initial scenario of the film:
“Introduce the child [de T’Challa] has always been in the DNA of what we wanted to do” Cole confided. “We just weren’t sure after [le] death of [Chadwick Boseman] how best to integrate it. So there have been quite a few versions of his son’s presence in our new story. And we ultimately chose to save the reveal for last.”