For a while now, the internet has been pushing to see on-the-rise British actor Damson Idris of “F1” and “Snowfall” being a contender for the new “Black Panther,” after it was revealed that T’Challa had a secret son in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and some leaked concept/key artwork from the next two “Avengers” films had what looked like a variant or a grown-up version of T’Challa II (remains to be seen if that art will be ultimately used for the films or not).
Feige was directly asked about Idris being a Black Panther recasting contender in a recent interview with Chinese outlet/account Keep An Eye On Hollywood/Watching Hollywood (via a post on Weibo and an English translation from Google Translate, so there might be some hiccups in the wording), although he didn’t flat out deny that was on the table and maybe added fuel to the fire.
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“Not today [laughs],” Feige responded about when the public will learn if Idris is indeed in the BP role…”In [‘Avengers: Doomsday’], there are some pairings—I won’t reveal them now, though we’ve already filmed them—which are fantastic, very, very fun. Again: I won’t spoil anything, but there are some duos you’ll never expect. I think when the audience walks out of the theater, they’ll say, ‘I absolutely love these two together!’ And even if you think a million times beforehand, you still can’t guess who it is—that’s the fun. Maybe you can guess (*whispering to me, ‘I just asked Damson Idris about playing Black Panther,’ so maybe that’s a hint?*).”
When asked if there was a cultural reason to make Black Panther a priority hero at the studio, “Yes, and also because the Black Panther comes from the entire world of Wakanda, where there are many great characters and a part of Marvel’s mythology that we haven’t explored since the 1960s. That’s why we brought him into ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier‘—hoping he would excite the audience, and since then, he’s become hugely popular. We’re also fortunate to [make] ‘Black Panther.'”
This comes after Ryan Coogler’s next feature film is confirmed to be “Black Panther 3” after shooting the pilot for his “X-Files” revival and veteran Oscar-winner Denzel Washington giving away his possible role in the trilogy capper, although it’s unclear who he’ll be playing (coming after years of the internet claiming Washington was wanted for a key “X-Men” role either Xavier/Magneto, which might have just been fan manifesting).
The studio executive also recently addressed their consistent pursuit of Adam Driver after a slew of rumblings that he had been wanted for various MCU roles over the years, alongside more recent online chatter that he could end up playing a villain in the “X-Men” reboot. He was a little more open about wanting to work with Driver, but stopped short of speaking about the latest casting rumors of playing a bad guy for director Jake Schreier.
There is a minor expectation that Marvel could make some big announcement or update concerning “Black Panther 3” during their Hall H presentation this weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, although we don’t know if main lead Letitia Wright or someone established in the Coogler films will be leading that one. That said, we know that Shuri is back in the mantle role for “Avengers: Doomsday” this December, and the assumption is that if she survives those events, there will be another return for “Secret Wars.” We’ll just have to be patient to find out if Marvel will ultimately listen to the overwhelming pressure from fans online, who often voice their desire for a new actor in the T’Challa role (either via Multiverse or a grown-up version of his son), but given the trauma/grief connected to the death of Chadwick Boseman, we’re not entirely sure if Coogler is going to end up doing that.
