From the Hollywood Reporter:The Marvel Cinematic Universe appears ready to return to Wakanda.

Marvel Studios has not officially confirmed that a third film in the Black Panther franchise is in the works, but actor Denzel Washington on Tuesday indicated that there is, and that he will have a role.

Speaking to the Today show on Australia’s Channel 9 as part of a Gladiator 2 press junket, Washington said that director Ryan Coogler is writing a part for him in the next Black Panther film.

When asked about his future plans, Washington said that “at this point in my career, I’m only interested in working with the best, I don’t know how many more films I will make, probably not that many. I want to do things that I haven’t done.”

“I played Othello at 22, I’m now going to play it at 70,” he continued. “After that, I’m playing Hannibal. After that, I’ve been talking with Steve McQueen about a film. After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther.”

Black Panther has become one of the MCU’s signature franchises, with the 2018 film starring Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o and Michael B. Jordan garnering not only critical acclaim but a massive box office haul, earning more than $1.3 billion.

Boseman died at age 43 in 2020.

The 2022 sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, functioned as a tribute to the late actor, and a way to continue the story of Wakanda and its people. it also launched to success at the box office.

As the article says, Denzel basically said a role is being written for him. But, he’s definitely not the star.

Doesn’t really say one way or another. I assume because of who he is it won’t be some small role but if someone wants to edit the title or even reboot the thread no big deal here.

The second movie was a shell of its former self without Boseman.

I personally wouldn’t make another one but if they’re going to, Denzel is a good get!

Interesting. I recall when Washington did the first Equalizer, he and Fuqua made a point that it was the only way Washington was willing to do anything remotely close to a superhero movie. Hope that means Coogler made a great pitch or wrote Washington a phenomenal role, rather than drop a sack of Disney Bucks at Washington's feet.

Yeah, it was terrible. On paper, Black Panther and Wakanda going to war with Namor and Atlantis sounds cool as fuck, but that movie was just a complete misfire.

They should have just recast T'Challa and been done with it instead of having to establish a third Black Panther in the character's fifth movie appearance.

I am surprised that I have still not seen the sequel. If they actually go through with making a third film I will muster up the energy to watch but I stopped worrying about being an MCU completist quite some time back (going back to the days when I just found myself pretty much not watching any of the Netflix Marvel shows after Daredevil Season 1). Even the MCU tv shows that Disney themselves put up to watch on D+ have fallen by wayside for me. Same with Star Wars D+ stuff, I find myself excited to watch the latest MCU/Star Wars show on D+, and if I am lucky I do start things up and get an episode or two (or in the case of Andor, three eps in) into the show and find myself being distracted with the million other shows I want to watch on other services.

It looks like Black Panther 2 made around $860 million world wide, so I get why Disney thinks there is still gold in them thar hills.

Black gold

First one was really good. Second one was terrible, IMO. It sucks but the reality is that no Boseman means this franchise is dead.

Having no T'Challa was one of the big problems of Wakanda Forever, but ultimately it wasn't the main reason the movie didn't work. Out of the three female candidates to replace T'Challa they chose the worst, it's like making Q the next 007, adding Iron Heart was a terrible idea, since the movie already had enough going on, without the introduction of a new hero.
The movie had to establish a new Black Panther, a new threat, leading to war against Namor, introducing a Power Ranger wasn't necessary. The death of Chadwick Boseman doomed the movie, but they could have made a better movie anyway.

In the minority but I enjoyed it. Is Boseman sorely missing? Absolutely.

Agreed... should we use the academy award winner whose character actually makes sense for the role? Nope!

Not recasting is one of the many post endgame mistakes. They should've shut preproduction down for a year and come back with a recast, not use the film as some sort of grieving project. Maybe it helped the cast/crew but it certainly didn't help the film or the series.

Beyond being a very entertaining entry in the MCU franchise. Black Panther tapped into something deeper, culturally, especially for Black fans who felt under-represented in the MCU, in particular, and the superhero genre, in general.

Fortunately and unfortunately for Disney and Marvel, there was an incredible investment among Black Panther fans in the T'Challa character and Chadwick Boseman as his portrayer.

This was just one of those moments in film history where an actor instantly became linked to a character in an inseparable way, like Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, or Arnold as the Terminator. And here, it was for reasons that transcend just what is on the screen. It was about what kind of person Boseman was perceived to be. Apart from the difficulty of asking audiences to accept a new actor in the role, there was also the issue of how a recasting would have been seen by A LOT of Black Panther's biggest fans, who Disney needed to stay committed to the franchise, as a betrayal of Boseman's memory.

Obviously, we can all point to the example of James Bond being recast in the franchise over the years, but has any franchise ever successfully recast the title character role, after just one movie, for an immediate sequel? Even when Marvel recast The Hulk between movies in the 2000s, they made the second film a reboot of the franchise, not a direct sequel.

Yes. This franchise.
Edit : Okay, not the title character. But a main character.

BTW : I totally agree that recasting T'Challa would have been a terrible idea and a slap in the face to Bozeman's fans.
Didn't Shuri become Black Panther in the comics? If so, I can't be upset at Marvel for doing the same story here. I didn't mind BP2 at all, though it's far inferior to the original. I do think killing off Angela Bassett's character was too much loss for one movie and felt totally unnecessary.

So, then the answer to my question was NO.

You also could have used:

He mentioned that.

How about Clarice Starling? She was recast in Hannibal, but was basically the title character in Silence of the Lambs.

I agree with everything you wrote. And I'll add that everything the public knew about Boseman when he was alive - and everything we've learned since his death - indicates that he was "worthy" of being the Black Panther in the same way that Christopher Reeve was worthy of being Superman. They seemed to be truly good and decent people.

That casting was weak and I'm glad he was replaced. The actor brought too much baggage to screen, IMO. Imagine an alternate MCU timeline where Rhodey goes off on a tangent about women needing to use wet wipes if they want to be clean.

Clarice Starling was the title character in the movie The Silence of the Lambs.

Do you think about these things before you type them, or just start typing random words?

The word "protagonist" was sitting right there, waiting to be used.

Don't bother to read ALL the words in my post.

Hulk came out in 2003, and The Incredible Hulk came out five years later, so it was not an immediate sequel. Additionally and more importantly, The Incredible Hulk did not maintain continuity with the 2003 film, it was a reboot for the character.

You are a miserable SOB.
And yes, I did think about it. The Silence of the Lambs specifically refers to Clarice and her experiences as a child, as well as her role as the protector.
https://screenrant.com/silence-of-th...title-meaning/

And you didn't real all the words in my post either, apparently, as I said "basically"

It also sort of makes my point that this sequel to The Silence of the Lambs came out 10 years later, and so was not an immediate sequel, and it was titled Hannibal.

It's been a while, but I think Hannibal Lecter was the name of Anthony Hopkins character in The Silence of the Lambs.