Marvel Already Has Plans For a 'Black Panther' Sequel

Marvel Studios
Marvel Studios

Given the runaway success of Black Panther, which has seen the film crest upwards of $1 billion in global box office sales and sowed literal panic among teens, there's been conjecture about the film's implications for the broader Marvel cinematic universe, and whether it'll bleed into other forthcoming titles in the company's plans.

But now there's actual proof of what's coming after the dust settles in Wakanda, as Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, toldEntertainment Weekly about the next iteration of Black Panther. While he admitted the idea is pretty nascent, Fiege acknowledged immediately that a follow-up will one day be in the works, saying:

"Nothing specific to reveal, other than to say we absolutely will do that. One of the favorite pastimes at Marvel Studios is sitting around on a Part One and talking and dreaming about what we would do in a Part Two. There have been plenty of those conversations as we were putting together the first Black Panther. We have ideas and a pretty solid direction on where we want to head with the second one."

Building on that, Fiege said that doing standalone films without a sequel qualifies as a "big gamble" in the current climate, which sees studios coughing up hugely lucrative franchises at an astonishing clip. At the same time, introducing new characters and stories to the forefront is important, too, as to avoid getting caught up in the same, repetitive mire of making different versions of the same movie.

He told EW:

"A lot of studios would love to have four franchises that they can keep doing sequels to. We specifically didn’t want to do that, because we wanted to keep bringing new characters to the forefront, because there’s an embarrassment of riches in the comic books."

For Black Panther stans, this is exciting news, but for Marvel, it's a no-brainer: When your movie has made nearly $1 billion in less than a month, you'd be wise to double or even triple-down on that revenue stream.

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Sam Blum is a News Staff Writer for Thrillist. He's also a martial arts and music nerd who appreciates a fine sandwich and cute dogs. Find his clips in The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The A.V. Club and Esquire. He's on Twitter @Blumnessmonster.