Rumor: One Of Marvel’s Next Films Will Be ‘Black Panther’
By Russ Fischer/June 5, 2012 2:30 pm EST
Plus there has been talk of films for other characters, such as Luke Cage, Black Panther, and even Moon Knight. But if one report is correct, it’s Black Panther that will be on screens before most of those other cats.
There have been nods to the Black Panther in a couple other Marvel films: we saw his home country Wakanda on a map in Iron Man 2, and that land is the home of the stuff from which Captain America’s shield is made. And there’s stuff in the classic Black Panther story that would fit in with the world Marvel has built on screen so far: T’Challa, the king of Wakanda, ingests an herb that both links him to his god, and provides superhuman strength. Convenient! T’Challa’s aim is to make Wakanda a technological powerhouse, and the character has been a member of the Avengers.
So is that what we can expect to see on screen? In the style of other Marvel movies, whatever script Bailey has written would likely change some things but keep the core aspects of the character. Black Panther has a dedicated audience, but he would be the closest thing to a niche character given a starring role by Marvel if this news is correct. (Ant-Man, in development by Edgar Wright, would be the next closest, but that film isn’t dated or greenlit yet.)
At this point Marvel’s schedule is set through mid-2014. There is one film that has been dated for May of that year, the title of which is unannounced, and there is another film Marvel plans to make that doesn’t even have a release date yet. We can expect that for 2015, most likely. Black Panther could take either of those last two dates, most likely the first, so that he could participate in another Avengers film.
Here’s the Marvel release schedule as we know it:
