Black Panther 3's First Story Update Makes 1 MCU Disney+ Show More Important

Black Panther 3's first story details were teased ahead of the film's production and release. The MCU is slowly pushing toward developing new solo movies after this year's Avengers: Doomsday and next year's Avengers: Secret Wars. This will include returning to one of Marvel’s most successful solo stories, Black Panther, after a four-year gap in releases.

A report revealed new details about connections between Black Panther 3 and the Disney+ animated series Eyes of Wakanda. According to The Cosmic Circus, the movie will lean "heavily into the mystical aspect of Wakandan lore and mythology." Additionally, there are expected to be "a few connections to the lore from Eyes of Wakanda."

Marvel Studios previously indicated that Eyes of Wakanda was canon to the MCU, even though it is set thousands of years before the main MCU story begins. This animated anthology series follows the Hatut Zeraze (Wakanda's elite spies and War Dogs) as they travel through history on dangerous global missions. These warriors and spies are tasked with finding and retrieving lost, stolen, or dangerous vibranium artifacts that could expose the secrets Wakanda has kept over the centuries.

This would be the first deep exploration of Wakanda's history in the live-action MCU, even though both of the first few movies have been largely set in the hidden African nation. While it is still unclear whether the specific stories told in Eyes of Wakanda will be referenced in Black Panther 3, the country's legacy should play a major role in the movie's main plot, which is still being kept under wraps.

Previously, the first Black Panther included some teases about the country's long-hidden history, but the main story focused on the Wakandan civil war between factions led by T'Challa and Erik Killmonger. The second movie was less focused on Wakandan history, given the tall order of honoring the late Chadwick Boseman.

Black Panther 3 will be the MCU's third dive into the Wakanda-based sub-franchise following the end of the Multiverse Saga. While its release timeframe is unconfirmed, it is expected to be the first movie released in the MCU's Phase 7. Outside of a role for Denzel Washington, the movie's cast is unconfirmed, although Letitia Wright's Shuri and Winston Duke's M'Baku are heavily expected to return.

Wakandan History Explored in Black Panther 3

Utilizing thousands of unexplored years of history, Eyes of Wakanda took place in four distinct years: 1260 B.C., 1200 B.C., 1400 A.D., and 1896 A.D. Making the show the earliest entry in the entire MCU timeline, it seems to set the stage for some of what to expect from the next live-action Black Panther movie.

This could potentially be explored through new characters in this movie, one of whom will be played by Oscar-winner Denzel Washington. Washington is rumored to play this movie's main villain (who has not yet been revealed), potentially setting him up with deep ties to Wakandan history through the War Dogs and Hatut Zeraze upon his arrival.

Rumors suggest Black Panther 3 will begin filming before the end of the year. However, with Wright and Duke both set to play big roles in Avengers: Doomsday and likely Avengers: Secret Wars, those movies will help prepare fans for the next Black Panther solo film before it gets properly underway.