Black Panther 2 Can Introduce A T’Challa Variant & We Know Who’s Perfect

With Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soon to premiere, there’s a chance a variant T’Challa could be teased and there’s already a perfect actor for the role. The Black Panther debuted in 2016 in Captain America: Civil War and the role was made famous by late actor Chadwick Boseman. Since his passing in August of 2020, Marvel Studios has announced that they will not recast the role of T’Challa.

When a viral petition urged Marvel to recast T’Challa, Marvel Studios Vice President Nate Moore was asked about the decision not to recast the role. Moore said, “You will not see T’Challa in the MCU 616 universe.” Typically the 616 universe is designated for the main Marvel comic book universe. Moore likely meant the 199999 universe, which is assigned to the MCU. Nevertheless, his specific multiverse detail indicated a variant T’Challa was possible. The MCU familiarized audiences with the concept of variants with Loki and the animated What If…? series. The latter featured multiple T’Challa variants, including Star-Lord T’Challa. Black Panther 2 can introduce one of those variants.

Marvel Studios’ Phase 4 movies have endured several production delays and other issues due to Covid. Regardless, if they decide to recast T’Challa, whether in Black Panther 2 or later, the actor Y’lan Noel would be a great T’Challa variant. Although a relatively newer face in Hollywood, the actor has gained attention playing Daniel King on the hit HBO series, Insecure. In addition, Noel has shown he can handle action scenes quite well in The First Purge. When Noel was asked if he would be interested in playing the role, he responded, “In a blink of an eye! But it’s up to the gods.” (via The Movie Blog) Some people may be surprised to read this, believing that no other actor would want the immense pressure of following in Chadwick Boseman’s footsteps. However, that isn’t the case, given Noel’s enthusiastic response.

T’Challa is an important hero, so it’s understandable why Noel (or any other actor) would be excited to play the character. Marvel Studios has typically hired relatively unknown actors and positioned them in prominent, leading roles. Tom Holland, for example, saw an incredible surge in his career and fame the moment he became Spider-Man. The same could be said for Chris Pratt as Star-Lord or Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Leading roles in the MCU have carried excellent track records for actors, and Y’lan Noel could very well continue that level of success.

Noel would make a great T’Challa variant, especially if surrounded by the talented minds at Marvel Studios and the gifted storytelling of Ryan Coogler. The Insecure actor could show up as the live-action version of Star-Lord T’Challa from What If…? or a different version of T’Challa unknown to audiences. Moviegoers could appreciate that difference because it would avoid direct comparisons to his predecessor, Chadwick Boseman.

Y’lan Noel is just one of many talented Black actors that could take up the role of T’Challa and continue what Chadwick Boseman started. With the multiverse in full effect, the MCU could take a couple of different routes with a new variant T’Challa. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness appears as though it will blow the doors wide open as far as the possibilities with variants in the MCU; some fans even speculate that Black Panther is in Doctor Strange 2 as a secret recasting. Anything is possible at this point, including a T’Challa variant popping up in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

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