You know how it goes: Marvel is as much about what is coming up in the ever-expanding future than it is about what is currently in release in theaters or streaming on Disney+. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever isn’t even in theaters yet and people already want to know: Is there going to be a Black Panther 3? And if so, when will it come out? These questions are compounded by the fact that the franchise has already lost its first star, Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020 just before production on the sequel was to begin.
If Marvel has plans about such a project they are not publicly talking about it. In interviews with Variety, both director Ryan Coogler and producer Kevin Feige indicated that (unless they are lying) no plan has been put in place for a direct Wakanda Forever sequel. Feige had this to say:
I go back to what I said when we decided to make ‘Wakanda Forever’ after losing Chad [Boseman] … this mythology and this ensemble and these characters deserve to continue and will continue after all of us are gone, I hope, and will continue forever in movies the way it has in comics for 50-plus years.
Of course, that’s no guarantee of another movie. Wakanda’s mythology could continue in other movies involving other Marvel characters. While not yet officially announced, Marvel is also supposedly developing a Disney+ TV show around the world of Wakanda, which could continue the story of Wakanda Forever without there ever being a Black Panther 3 on the big screen.
If such a movie does happen, it’s not clear that Coogler will be involved either. He told Variety “definitively” that he has “no idea what I’m doing next as a writer and director.” He also called rumors that he was a contender to direct the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars “crazy.” So whatever the future of the Black Panther franchise is, it could look pretty different than what’s been released so far.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens in theaters on Friday.
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