Black Panther 2 Star Injured On Set, Hospitalized
A Black Panther 2 star sustained injuries on set and was taken to the hospital today.
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Apparently protecting the great nation of Wakanda isn’t all fun and games. Today we learned one of the stars of Black Panther 2 was sent to the hospital after being injured on set. Deadline reports that Letitia Wright — the actress who will be reprising the role of genius inventor and princess Shuri in the upcoming Black Panther 2 — sustained minor injuries while filming a stunt during an overnight shoot in Boston. Marvel confirmed Wright was receiving treatment at a local hospital, but she has since been released. Deadline also reported that Wright’s injuries weren’t serious and that the shooting schedule won’t be affected.
The Black Panther 2 star is the second Marvel celebrity to be hospitalized in as many weeks. Earlier this week, Sunday World reported Barry Koeghan — who is set to appear as Druig in the upcoming Eternals — was assaulted in Galway, Ireland the previous Sunday and hospitalized with injuries to his face. No arrests were made in the attack and Koeghan declined to file a complaint.
The very fact that Wright was involved in a scene with a stunt could add fuel to the speculation — like a July story from Inverse — that Shuri will succeed T’Challa as the monarch of Wakanda in Black Panther 2 as she did for a time in the source material. While she’s primarily remembered for her groundbreaking inventions, Letitia Wright has been involved in intense fight sequences in every film in which Shuri has appeared: Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. So the fact Wright was involved in a stunt shot doesn’t necessarily reveal anything.
Precious few details have been revealed about Black Panther 2 so far. The movie’s full title, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, was unveiled in May and shooting began the following month in Atlanta. The following month, the briefest of videos leaked from the set. Along with members of the film crew, the video shows what appears to be the interior of a grand Wakandan structure partially obscured by scaffolding.
One of the longest-running pieces of speculation about Black Panther 2 is that its villain will be Namor the Sub-Mariner. First appearing in 1939 Marvel Comics #1, Namor is the monarch of the underwater kingdom of Atlantis. While Namor was actually one of Marvel’s earliest superheroes, in more recent years he’s been portrayed more as a villain. Atlantis and Wakanda have been hostile to each other for years in the source material. Along with some minor disagreements, Namor — infused with the cosmic Phoenix Force — drowns untold numbers of Wakandans in the 2012 Avengers vs. X-Men miniseries.
Fans who theorized that a brief exchange in Avengers: Endgame between Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Okoye (Danai Gurira) mentioning an underwater earthquake was a Namor Easter egg, had their hunches confirmed by Endgame co-writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus in April 2020 (via Den of Geek). The confirmation served to only feed rumors that Namor would be assaulting Wakanda in Black Panther 2, as did the addition of Tenoch Huerta (Spectre) to the cast, who many believe will be playing the aquatic prince.
Regardless of who the villain or who the next Black Panther will be, Black Panther 2 is scheduled to arrive in theaters July 8, 2022.
