Marvel fans delighted as Black Panther makes surprise return to the MCU

Black Panther has, finally, popped up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe again, implying that Disney has big plans for the character down the line.

Just a heads up: this article contains spoilers for the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe release! Even telling you which MCU project I’m on about is a bit of a spoiler in itself, so I highly suggest not reading any further if you’re not fully up to date.

Thank you in advance to Comicbook’s Simon Gallagher for the original source.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen the MCU’s Black Panther on our screens. Roughly three years in fact, following the release of 2022’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Of course, we always knew Shuri would be coming back in some capacity. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever left a few breadcrumbs for future stories, and we’ve known that Black Panther 3 has been in the works for a long time now.

So, why exactly has Marvel waited so long to bring her back? Well, it seems like they were waiting to release their latest Disney+ series to give the character the spotlight she deserves: Ironheart.

The first few episodes of Ironheart dropped this morning (or last night if you’re in the United States), and the very first episode features a brief glimpse of Letitia Wright’s Shuri.

Now to be fair, it’s very much a cameo as she’s barely in the scene for more than a second. However, it does imply that we will potentially be getting another, proper scene with Shuri in the latter half of the season (which has yet to release).

Given their frenemies style partnership in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it would make sense to have Shuri and Ironheart interact in a bigger way at some point. Here’s hoping we don’t have to wait until Avengers: Doomsday to see that happen.