Denzel Washington To Join Marvel’s Black Panther 2?

Is Denzel Washington heading to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? The latest rumor has him circling a role in Black Panther 2

By Doug Norrie | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

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Is Denzel Washington heading to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? We might be seeing it happen sooner than later. The latest rumor would have that be the case with the iconic actor possibly taking a role in the Black Panther 2 when final casting is announced. Now, this is still very much a rumor at this point, but with the new story starting to possibly take shape, we could see Denzel fit into the production and heading to Wakanda for the next story. 

Now, before we get head over heels on this latest casting rumor for Denzel Washington, know that it was *sourced* from 4chan and then repurposed on Reddit. So we can likely take it with a moderate grain of salt. Though some of the other news in the initial thread was oddly specific about the Marvel Universe and upcoming projects so there could be some validity there. The rumor doesn’t go until how Denzel would fit into the sequel, but it does also mention that Erik Killmonger would be back for the next movie and would become the next Black Panther. 

With the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman over the summer, the Black Panther franchise was left to determine how to best handle the story going forward. Considering the iconic nature of the role and performance by the actor in the first movie, it seemed unlikely they’d be able to capture the same magic without their lead. But Marvel and company appear determined to put out the sequel and there have been a great many rumors around who would take up the mantle going forward. Obviously, even if this latest rumor was true, it wouldn’t be Denzel Washington. The actor would be slotted into a different part of the next movie. 

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Whether or not Denzel Washington joins this next movie remains to be seen. Heck, as we said, it doesn’t appear they’ve even ironed out who will be the star. Ryan Coogler is back on to direct and initially, it appeared like the role would go to Letitia Wright whose Shuri character looked like she could fill the role quite well. But the actress was part of some controversy over the summer during the height of the pandemic and the studio might be distancing from that idea. And of course, there’s the aforementioned Erik Killmonger role played by Michael B. Jordan. That character appeared to die at the end of the first movie, but anything is possible when it comes to comic book movies. Before we get crazy about that part, Jordan has been circling rumors within the DC Universe about a possible Superman casting. It’s unclear he’d be part of two franchises. 

Whether he joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe remains to be seen, but Denzel Washington does have another big role coming up. He’s going to play Lord Macbeth in Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth which is in post-production now. Maybe he goes from the pages of a Shakespearean classic to the pages of a comic book. It would be pretty cool to see happen.