Ryan Coogler Wants to Get Denzel Washington for Black Panther 3

After the grand reveal of Avengers: Doomsday’s partial cast, fans wondered where several heroes have been. You can count Black Panther among them, since we haven’t seen anything from Letitia Wright’s Shuri since Wakanda Forever back in 2022. We don’t know anything about a third film…well, except that it may feature Denzel Washington.

During last November’s press circuit for Gladiator II, Washington claimed he would join the MCU through Coogler’s franchise. There hasn’t been any official news yet, but Coogler recently told Shannon Sharpe in an interview he was “dying” to work with the esteemed actor, who he called “a living legend and a great mentor. He’s always looking out for us. I got every intention of working with him in [Black Panther 3] as long as he’s interested.” For his part, Washington sounded pretty game last year when he talked about taking on new challenges before retirement, so it could very much happen.

Black Panther is one of several franchises who’ve had sizable gaps between solo installments, and Marvel hasn’t even officially confirmed a third installment is happening. Wakanda Forever’s four-year wait was largely due to Chadwick Boseman’s death in 2020 and the subsequent pivot to Shuri as the title hero. Recent rumors have suggested Marvel may be trying to introduce a new T’Challa, though it’s unclear if this would be a multiverse variant or an adult version of his son introduced in Wakanda. Coogler didn’t address that, but when asked about the wait for Panther 3, he told Sharpe the wait would be “not long.”

Until then, we have Coogler’s Sinner on April 18, and Avengers: Doomsday on May 1, 2026.

[via Deadline]

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