Letitia Wright's Shuri will pass the mantle in Black Panther 3

Amid the current wave of coverage on the latest MCU scoops, one thing is sure to shock you, aside from the reveal of characters in Avengers 5, formerly titled The Kang Dynasty: Shuri passing the mantle onto the younger T’Challa in Black Panther 3.

The scoop comes from Alex Perez of Cosmic Circus. Yes, MCU fans. Letitia Wright’s Shuri, who is the Princess of Wakanda and assumed the mantle of the Black Panther following her elder brother’s passing, will bequeath the title above to her nephew, T’Challa II, in the franchise's third installment.

Through samples of her late brother, T’Challa’s DNA, fibers from Namor’s bracelet, and replicating a synthesized artificial version of the Heart-Shaped Herb, Shuri became the next Black Panther. Following the defeat of Namor and the end of the war, Shuri leaves Wakanda to stay with Nakia in Haiti and is introduced to her nephew, T’Challa II.

As of Phase Five of the MCU and when this article was published, Shuri and her nephew's current status was unknown, and the two were not mentioned in the Eyes of Wakanda animated series. Whether Ryan Coogler will return to helm the third Black Panther film is unknown, but it is considered likely.

It would make sense for the franchise to have Shuri pass the torch to T'Challa's son and Marvel by the time we next see T’Challa II again he'll likely be at least a few years older than when we last saw him in Wakanda Forever. What will be interesting is to see whether Marvel brings back Divine Love Konadu-Sun to reprise the role or if they will choose to recast the character, similar to what we saw with Cassie Lang in the Ant-Man movies with Kathryn Newton taking over the role in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.