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Credit: Marvel StudiosMCU delays have struck again, and even though a third Black Panther movie was not yet on the cards, the series just got a disappointing update.
It’s no secret Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe is navigating turbulent times. Following the splashy Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), the MCU never really found its footing with its troubled Phase Four. Sure, the fourth sequence in the sprawling Marvel Comics-inspired franchise began well before No Way Home with the likes of WandaVision and the first Phase Four feature, Black Widow (2021), but the Tom Holland powerhouse saw a huge post-pandemic boom at the box office.
Since, though, movies in the MCU have seen a decline, if fan and critic response is anything to go by. Catching the tailwind of No Way Home, Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) almost breached the $1 million club, but later entries like Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) garnered majority mixed reviews and reception.
Then came the biggest blow yet when Peyton Reed’s highly-anticipated Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) landed in movie theaters and gave Marvel Studios and The Walt Disney Company its worst performance yet. Not only were box office receipts low, but it became widely-panned thanks to its heavy CGI, poor script from Jeff Loveness, and little to no characterization — save Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror — with its leading cast.
Ant-Man 3 was muddled at best, but James Gunn would simmer fears that superhero fatigue had well and truly taken over with his climactic finale to the Guardians of the Galaxy series. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) proved that the MCU was not all said and done and gave audiences a heartfelt and entertaining end to the live-action Marvel Universe’s disparate group of misfits.
Related: Marvel Reimagining ‘Black Panther’: “Our Apex Black Superhero as He Was Truly Meant to Be”
Now, all eyes are on the upcoming release of Nia DaCosta’s follow-up to Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel (2019) movie, The Marvels (2023). The cosmic-centric sequel brings Brie Larson back as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, as well as Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel, and Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau/Photon. At first tapped for a July release, Marvel pushed the ensemble movie back to November. The new release date is now November 10, 2023.
And just this week, the studio did it again and changed everything in the MCU.
MCU delays strike again.
Multiple movies have been delayed, taking later slots in the year or even moving to the next. Those with altered dates include Captain America: Brave New World (2024), Thunderbolts (2024), Blade (2025), Fantastic Four (2025), Avengers: The Kang Dynasty (2026), and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027). The latter will most likely be when the studio’s current Multiverse Saga will come to a close. These MCU delays feature movies that have already once been pushed back, likely causing frustration for Marvel fans.
MCU movies aren’t the only ones being shifted around, as Lucasfilm’s Star Wars and James Cameron’s Avatar movies are also being delayed. Disney’s calendar includes a variety of untitled projects spanning Disney animation, Pixar, Disney live-action, Marvel, Star Wars, and more. One project that is likely but not confirmed is a third entry in the Black Panther franchise.
But the potential threequel just got a disappointing update.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever dealt with the aftermath of Chadwick Boseman’s unfortunate passing. Marvel decided that King T’Challa, Boseman’s eponymous Black Panther, would die in the MCU, leaving a new character to take up the role of the protector of Wakanda.
It would be Letitia Wright’s Shuri, T’Challa’s sister, that would become the Black Panther and deal with the threat of Namor (Tenoch Huerta) and his aquatic armies. The movie, while eventually being a relative box office win, received backlash during the run-up to its release as fans called out Marvel’s choice not to recast T’Challa as damaging to the MCU and to the legacy of the character. Producer Nate Moore addressed this when he said that Black Panther is a mantle, something which caused a new wave of ire towards the movie studio.
Black Panther gets upsetting update.
However, while the end of Wakanda Forever suggested that a third film was likely, Wright recently told Inverse that, at present, there is currently no work happening on the project. Wright said it “was a big journey.” The outlet confirmed, “There’s been no movement on a third Black Panther film, but the actor is “excited” to return to Wakanda when the time comes.”
Wright also pitched her own ideas for the potential sequel, referencing Ta-Nehisi Coates’ comic book run, “A Nation Under Our Feet”. In the comics, Shuri is killed in action and eventually returns to the land of the living from Djalia, the Plane of Wakandan Memory, imbued with encyclopedic knowledge and powerful new abilities.
This would be an interesting direction for Marvel to take Shuri in the MCU and also set her version of the Black Panther apart from Boseman’s if they kept her as the Wakandan figurehead.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever also stars Angela Bassett as Queen Ramonda, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Tenoch Huerta as Namor, Winston Duke as M’Baku, and Martin Freeman as Everett Ross.
Would you like to see another Black Panther movie despite the MCU delays? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!