Lately there has been a lot of buzz about the second Black Panther film ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.’ There have also been multiple casting rumors and other speculation surrounding the upcoming film. People want to know who will be the next Black Panther after the passing of Chadwick Boseman.

Among the debate about the leading character a new rumor has been swirling and it’s been reported by several places with various sources. That rumor is that Iron Heart / Riri Williams will be in the film as well.

Not going to write this up because @The_Illuminerdi has already hinted at it but a source I trust has seemingly confirmed their speculation and indicated Riri Williams is set to pop up in #BlackPantherWakandaForever pic.twitter.com/pDV7BavUjh

— KC Walsh (@TheComixKid) August 2, 2021

For those unfamiliar, around 2016, Marvel decided it was time that a lot of male characters should be mostly retired and replaced by women in the comics.

Riri Williams is basically the female version of Iron Man. Now that Iron Man is out of the MCU, in comes Riri.  There has already been an announced ‘Iron Heart’ show for Disney+ and actress Dominique Thorne has reportedly been cast to play the character.

Now there could be many reasons for Marvel to put Iron Heart into ‘Black Panther 2’ but I think the reason they are likely doing this is simple– Most MCU fans don’t know who she is.

Marvel has spent years building up the Avengers and their core characters. Now they’ve gone and either killed them off or sidelined them in the MCU. When they tried this with the comics the sales were not great.

Moving forward a lot of the films coming out soon are made up of characters that the casual movie goer doesn’t know, and even comics fans might not know because they keep changing characters to comply with mandated guidelines for diversity in Hollywood.  Characters like those in the upcoming “Eternals” film or Shang Chi are not ones most people know. The best way to work around this is by 1. Giving them a pre-movie Disney+ series or 2. Putting them into a film anchored by other characters or situations.

Captain Marvel is a good example of this. The comics were not that popular and the new iteration of Carol Danvers we rebooted a few times until they just gave her a film and put her into “Avengers: Endgame.”  Finally people knew who she was.

I think it’s very likely we will see Riri Williams / Iron Heart in the ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ film. Disney and Marvel need her anchored and it’s the fastest and best way. It’s why Ms. Marvel is going into ‘The Marvels” with Monica Rambeau (who was Captain Marvel previously and was so popular fans wanted her to be the new Captain Marvel over Carol Danvers.)

Also Riri is a genius like Shiri so they may be going for a new Bruce/ Tony dynamic without pesky testosterone getting in the way. Who knows.

From a business standpoint it just makes sense.

Again, it’s all rumor and nothing has been confirmed. But more and more sources are coming out saying they are hearing the same things.

What do you think? Comment and let us know!