The Marvel Cinematic Universe unveiled several new cast members for future movies at San Diego Comic-Con and D23 this year. With the introductions, there was excitement because the X-Men movies have started filling in the actors taking on the mutant roles for the foreseeable future. However, there was another announcement that arrived at San Diego Comic-Con when Marvel introduced David Jonsson to play the next Black Panther, for when Ryan Coogler directs Black Panther 3 for the MCU. This is huge news, and while this isn’t the same T’Challa from the comics, it could set up a huge love story.
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With Jonsson playing Black Panther in the MCU and Maya Boyd signing on to play Storm, this could mean big things for Marvel if it does one thing right.
Marvel Has a Chance to Introduce Storm and Black Panther’s Love Story
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With Storm and Black Panther both in the MCU now, it gives Marvel a chance to bring one of its best love stories to the big screen. In the comics, T’Challa and Ororo Monroe met as children in Marvel Team-Up #100 (1980) by John Byrne, Chris Claremont, and Frank Miller. Storm was orphaned and living as a street urchin in Cairo, Egypt. When she left Egypt and began to travel to Africa, she met a child named T’Challa, who was on a quest of his own. Storm saved T’Challa from a South African trafficker named Andreas de Ruyter, and they shared an immediate connection.
After T’Challa became King of Wakanda, his mother, Queen Ramonda, sent him on a journey to find a wife in Black Panther #14 (2006) by Reginald Hudlin and Scot Eaton. He found Storm, and while she was still angry with him for pushing her away so many years before, he won her over and asked her to marry him. Their wedding happened four issues later, and the heroes involved in the ongoing Civil War stopped fighting to honor the couple. They then served as the King and Queen of Wakanda for years until the events of “Avengers vs. X-Men,” when T’Challa annulled their marriage after Storm took the side of the X-Men against the Avengers.
However, their connection was too strong, and even though they remained unmarried, Storm later became an ally of Wakanda once again and was always there when T’Challa needed her. This is something that could be a highlight of the MCU in the post-Avengers: Secret Wars phase, as the X-Men rise to the top of Marvel movies, and Black Panther has a new beginning as well.
Storm Needs to Be a Big Part of Black Panther 3 for This to Work
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The one big question about the new Black Panther is how this is supposed to work. Shuri is the current Black Panther, and she has been since her brother’s death and funeral in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. In the mid-credits scene of that movie, Shuri sought out and found Nakia, who she learned had a child with T’Challa named Toussaint. When Shuri introduced herself to the child, he said his Wakandan name was T’Challa. David Jonsson signed on to play the new T’Challa in the upcoming Black Panther 3 movie.
Actor Divine Love Konadu-Sun was seven when he played T’Challa in 2022. Even six years later, when Black Panther 3 comes out, that would make the child 13. There will have to be a way to age him up to make this work for the new movie. Jonsson is 32, but he is likely to be playing a character in his 20s as T’Challa, which means something has to happen to age up T’Challa by at least 10 years when he debuts. That said, this is Marvel, so anything is possible, including a T’Challa from a variant Earth possibly replacing the one in the MCU.
Regardless, Storm needs to have a bigger role in the Black Panther movie than she does in the first X-Men movie. Boyd is 23, so if she plays her age and Jonsson plays about 10 years younger, which he should be able to do, similar to Tom Holland in the Spider-Man movies, it could allow them to recreate Storm and T’Challa’s relationship. It would be important to show them meeting as children, as they did in the comics, and then have them develop their romance on the big screen in the Black Panther movie. Having Storm be more of a Wakandan ally than even an X-Men member would go a long way in making her an essential part of the new MCU, and not just another mutant member of the X-Men.
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