Is one of Marvel's two mystery movies going to be Black Panther?

We know that besides for the usual superpowered suspects of Iron Man, Captain America and Thor, that Marvel have two more untitled secret projects in the works. For a long time it seemed that those two would be Doctor Strange and Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man, but with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige firmly stating that the mystical doctor will only get addressed much later, and with Edgar Wright’s personal schedule filling up to the point where it would be impossible for him to squeeze in a big budget superhero film right now as well, the question remained what those two titles were.

Now it looks like we may know the answer to one of them: Black Panther.

For those of you unfamiliar with the character, Black Panther is the costumed vigilante alter ego of T’Challa, prince of the fictional African nation of Wakanda, who is the latest in a long line of masked protectors. Black Panther’s paw-prints have already been found all over the Marvel movie universe: Wakanda appeared on a map in Iron Man 2 and Captain America’s shield is made from vibranium, an extremely rare fictional metal with exotic properties that can only be found in the Panther’s homeland.

More than a year ago, Marvel tapped documentary maker turned screenwriter Mark Bailey to write a draft of a Black Panther movie, but since not a breadcrumb has dropped since then, you kind of just assumed that it didn’t pan out. Now Latino Review has revealed that according to their sources, Marvel is definitely looking to give what many consider to be the first mainstream black super hero, his very own movie.

“…there has been much speculation as to the upcoming two Marvel films which have yet to be announced. It’s painfully obvious one of them is going to be the sequel to the Avengers.

But what about the other one?

Without further adieu, let’s get right to it…

Hell yes folks…

THE BLACK PANTHER is going to headline his own film!

How do I know? Let’s say I got it from FOUR different trusted sources.

Marvel is going BIG TIME after the urban film audience and I applaud them for that.  Last year, it was reported that Marvel hired Mark Bailey to pen the script and I hear the script is fantastic.

The clues were always there. They showed Wakanda on the map in Iron Man 2 and Captain America’s shield is made from Vibranium which also hails from Wakanda. The Black Pantherhas a long development history which at one point had Wesley Snipes attached to star. Marvel got the rights back to the character in 2005.”

There ya go, folks. Four different sources, that must mean it’s true, right? Right?

While Black Panther has found himself in an urban environment for the last few years, his story always began in Africa, and it would certainly be interesting to see Marvel tackle such a completely different environment to the metropolitan ones we’ve seen in all the movies thus far.

So who do you guys think should wear the mask? Were it not for his involvement already with Thor, Idris Elba would have jumped to the top of my list. Although, I am sure that just like with Captain America, Marvel would probably want a much younger face under the mask.

Last Updated: June 6, 2012