On Monday, Marvel dropped its trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, featuring our first extended look at Ryan Coogler’s follow-up to Black Panther. If you’re reading this, it’s a safe bet you’re aware of the circumstances around this creative team’s almost impossible task, but the spectacular early looks at the movie have soothed a lot of fears. The somber trailer re-introduces the likes of Angela Bassett’s Ramonda, Winston Duke’s M’Baku and Danai Guria’s Okoye; and brings new faces like Dominique Thorn’s Riri Williams, Michaela Coel’s Aneka and, of course, Tenoch Huerta as Namor, the proud king of Marvel’s oceans.
But one question reigns above all: Who is suiting up in The Suit? Chadwick Boseman’s tragic death left the Black Panther mantle up for grabs, and this trailer confirms that Wakandan nature abhors a vacuum, so who’s up? There are plenty of contenders, but we feel pretty confident: The new Black Panther will be T’Challa’s sister Shuri, played by Letitia Wright.
There are plenty of reasons to think so. The suit reveal certainly looks like a woman. The poster puts Shuri front and center, all but establishing her as the star. And maybe the biggest clue of all: precedence. In Marvel Comics, Shuri has spent a lot of time as the Black Panther when her brother was out of the job. We’re prepared to be wrong. Lupita Nyong’o, Guria or even Coel could very possibly suit up. But Shuri seems like the most obvious fit here, and Wright is primed for the role.
In 2020, RELEVANT spoke to Wright about her time in the MCU and on Steve McQueen’s Mangrove. She also opened up about her faith. At the time, she’d been a Christian for about five years. “I go by God’s Word,” she said at the time. “His word says His yoke is easy, His burden is light. You can be anxious. He understands it. But He says, ‘Be anxious for nothing,’ in His Word. So I apply His Word and just pray it through.”
Read our full conversation here.
