Black Panther 3 casting news confirms an Avengers: Secret Wars theory that will change the MCU forever

David Jonsson’s casting as T’Challa II was announced at SDCC. We have some questions.

Any way you break it down, the math doesn’t really add up. This past Saturday, during Marvel’s panel at San Diego Comic Con, The Long Walk star David Jonsson was revealed to be the new Black Panther in Black Panther III, when it comes out in 2028. He’ll be playing T’Challa’s son, who we first met at the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

But David Jonsson is 32 years old, while T’Challa’s son appears as a child in Wakanda Forever. So how does that work? And what might it mean for the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027?

T'Challah's son was the biggest twist in Black Panther 2

At the end of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, after Wakanda goes to war with the underwater kingdom of Talokan, Shuri (Letitia Wright) travels to Haiti to meet with her brother’s widow Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o). Nakia then reveals that, prior to his passing, T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and she had a son, and they felt it was best to raise him away from the pressures of the Wakandan throne. The young boy (Divine Love Konadu-Sun) is introduced as Toussaint, before he reveals that his name is the same as his father’s, T’Challa.

When Divine Love Konadu-Sun played that role, he was about seven years old and that makes sense for his age in-universe too. Assuming Toussaint was born shortly after the first Black Panther film, which came out in 2018, plus the five-year time jump in Avengers: Endgame, the character would also be about seven or eight during Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Six years later, which is when Black Panther III is scheduled to come out, he'll be about 14 years old, which is still way too young. Even if Jonsson is playing younger than his age — early 20s, maybe? — he’s certainly not playing 14.

What Black Panther 3's casting reveals about the fate of the MCU

So there must be some kind of time jump taking place in either Avengers: Doomsday or, more likely, Avengers: Secret Wars, which is scheduled for release in 2027.

The name “Secret Wars” comes from two different Marvel comics events. Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars came out in 1984 and 1985, and it featured a story where the villain Beyonder transported various Marvel heroes and villains to a planet called Battleworld to duke it out for his amusement.

Then in 2015 and 2016, Marvel released Secret Wars, which saw the main Marvel universe merge with various alternate Marvel universes. Within the comics, this was caused by the Beyonders, who are aliens that live outside of the multiverse. In reality, it allowed Marvel to combine the best of their various universes into one coherent universe.

If Avengers: Secret Wars follows the original comic more closely, the time jump could occur while the heroes are off-world. But more likely, the 2015 comics written by Jonathan Hickman are of much greater influence. Avengers: Doomsday is already talking about multiversal incursions, which figure heavily into Hickman's story, and Avengers: Secret Wars will likely be a continuation of that.

In the 2015 Secret Wars, Doctor Doom remakes the entire Marvel multiverse into a new dimension called Battleworld where he rules as god. If the MCU follows this plotline, then part of Doom's new vision could include an aged-up version of Toussaint, though why he specifically cares if T’Challa is a decade older seems strange. Alternatively, the MCU could simply choose to deploy another big time-jump in Secret Wars like it did in Endgame, even if that feels a bit redundant.

Black Panther 3 casting makes more sense in the real world than it does in the MCU

However, while the in-universe explanations may seem wonky (at least for now), the real-world reasons make a lot more sense. Just like the 2015 Secret Wars solved the IRL problem of Marvel Comics’ overly complex multiverse by streamlining it into a single storyline, making Toussaint an adult solves some real-world issues for Marvel Studios. While not recasting T’Challa after Chadwick Boseman’s death was done out of respect, many fans have complained about the absence of the character. Additionally, Marvel doesn’t seem thrilled with the idea of Letitia Wright as the star of the Black Panther franchise. While Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was one of the most successful post-Endgame Marvel outings, Wright has voiced some controversial anti-vaccine viewpoints during the pandemic on social media, and she apparently continued to talk about them while on set for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Generally, there doesn’t seem to be nearly as much public excitement for Wright as Black Panther as there was for Boseman, even before he died.

I remember when I saw Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and they revealed T’Challa’s son, I was surprised by how old he was. And when they revealed his name to also be T’Challa, it seemed clear that Marvel Studios was already working on a plan to get Wright out of the Black Panther costume and give it to this new T’Challa as soon as possible.

Now my suspicions have been confirmed. In 2028, we’ll see Toussaint/T’Challa Jr. as a full-grown man taking on the mantle of his late father. How the MCU explains his age remains to be seen, but I’m sure the studio will have an answer, as it's clearly something Kevin Feige and co. have been thinking about for a long time.