UPDATE 2: Kevin Feige has revealed the secret story behind the casting: David Jonsson was locked as Black Panther roughly six months ago, after Ryan Coogler took a secret hotel meeting with him before Marvel had even started a search.
UPDATE: The “which Black Panther” question is answered. Per Deadline, David Jonsson is playing Toussaint, aka T’Challa II, the grown son of T’Challa introduced by Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia in the Wakanda Forever post-credits scene. Ryan Coogler said on stage that T’Challa II comes of age in the movie with eyes on the crown of Wakanda, and revealed Black Panther 3 will be shot entirely on larger format celluloid film, a first for the MCU. Original article continues below.
Marvel has its new Black Panther: David Jonsson.
The reveal came at Marvel’s Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday night, per Deadline, with Letitia Wright and Winston Duke on stage for the moment, and it came paired with a date: Black Panther 3 opens December 15, 2028.
Jonsson is the British breakout who went from HBO’s Industry to Rye Lane to stealing Alien: Romulus as the android Andy, a run that made him one of the most in-demand young actors working. Now he’s headlining one of Marvel’s biggest franchises. New to the name? Here’s our full primer on who David Jonsson is, from the West End to the BAFTA Rising Star Award to a facehugger to the eye.
Which Black Panther Is He?
That’s the question Marvel didn’t answer on stage.
RELATED
Since Chadwick Boseman’s passing, the mantle has belonged to Wright’s Shuri, and Wakanda Forever ended by introducing T’Challa’s young son. Jonsson being announced simply as “Black Panther” leaves every door open: an aged-up T’Challa II after a time jump, a new hero entirely, or, given that Black Panther 3 lands after Avengers: Secret Wars resets the board and kicks off what Kevin Feige calls Marvel’s next universe, possibly a reborn T’Challa in a rebooted timeline. Marvel is going to let that debate rage, and it will. (As noted in the update above, Deadline has since confirmed it’s the first option: an aged-up T’Challa II.)
Wright and Duke standing with Jonsson suggests Shuri and M’Baku aren’t going anywhere, and Ryan Coogler’s sequel also has Denzel Washington confirmed, with Coogler on record calling him family.
Marvel Owns December Now
The date is its own story. Black Panther 3 on December 15, 2028 gives Marvel a December three-peat: Avengers: Doomsday on December 18, 2026, Avengers: Secret Wars on December 17, 2027, and now Black Panther 3 in 2028. After years of May tentpoles, Marvel has decided Christmas is Avengers season, and it’s planting its flag there through the end of the decade.
It also stacks 2028 into a massive Marvel year, with Ryan Gosling’s Ghost Rider movie, confirmed earlier in the same panel, also dated for 2028.
Black Panther 3 opens December 15, 2028. Follow our live Hall H coverage for everything announced tonight.
Matt McGloin is the editor-in-chief and publisher of Cosmic Book News, the independent entertainment news site he founded in 2008. He covers movies, comics, TV, video games and pop culture and has reported major industry scoops over the years, including revealing the Avengers: Endgame title ahead of its official announcement. Through Cosmic Book News, he helped Marvel Comics promote Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova through exclusive previews, artwork, and interviews, with the site also quoted in solicitations and on comic covers. He also reported on Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again retooling before it was later confirmed by the trades.