While Marvel Studios had plenty of release date announcements at Comic-Con, they saved one for Disney’s big party at D23 Expo in Anaheim: the highly anticipated sequel for last year’s cultural hit “Black Panther.”
“Black Panther II” will be released on May 6, 2022, joining a Marvel Phase Four release slate that begins in 2020 with “Black Widow” in May and “Eternals” in November. In 2021, the studio will release three films: “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” in February, “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” in May, and “Thor: Love and Thunder” in November.
No plot details about “Black Panther 2” have been revealed, though given it’s getting the same kind of sequel naming as the “Iron Man” movies, we predict a huge role for king T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) in Phase 4 of the MCU. But for those of you curious where things stand for T’Challa heading into the sequel, here’s a recap: T’Challa, his sister Shuri (Letitia Wright) and many others were among the trillions of beings snapped out of existence by Thanos at the end of “Avengers: Infinity War.” And in his absence, his loyal general Okoye (Danai Gurira) kept the country running.
T’Challa and Shuri were of course brought back from the dead at the end of “Avengers: Endgame,” but as anyone who saw it and “Spider-Man: Far From Home” know, five years passed. (Yes, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is now set in 2023.) A montage at the end of “Endgame” suggested T’Challa was back in Wakanda, presumably once again on the throne, but we can assume there will still be plenty of things to deal with, what with literally billions of people worldwide suddenly snapping back into existence. But we’ll have to wait until 2022 — again, that’s one year before where things are currently in the Marvel universe — to find out for ourselves.
On Friday at D23, Marvel Studios also announced three new planned streaming series for Disney+ that will add more superheroes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe: “Ms. Marvel,” “Moon Knight,” and “She-Hulk.” Those are in addition to previously announced series “Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “WandaVision,” “Loki,” “Hawkeye” and the animated anthology show “What If…?”