Ryan Coogler just won an Oscar and has a prestige TV detour ahead. The wait for Wakanda’s next chapter is longer — and more promising — than ever.
Marvel has shifted one of its untitled 2028 release slots from February 18 to July 28 — and according to reliable insider Jeff Sneider, that February date was Black Panther 3’s. The next chapter in Wakanda’s story just got pushed roughly five months further into 2028.
Here’s the thing: that’s probably the best news the movie could get.
When is Black Panther 3 coming out? Based on the updated Marvel calendar and Sneider’s confirmation, Black Panther 3 is now expected to land on July 28, 2028 — making it a summer blockbuster rather than a winter release, and the second MCU film of Phase 7 rather than the first.
The reason for the delay isn’t hard to trace. Ryan Coogler — fresh off winning Best Original Screenplay at the 98th Academy Awards for Sinners, his best-reviewed film to date — is not jumping straight back into the MCU machine. Before Black Panther 3, he’s directing the pilot for Hulu’s X-Files reboot, expected to shoot through May and June of this year. That pilot commitment, combined with several members of the Wakandan cast being tied up in Avengers: Secret Wars production, makes a 2027 shoot start essentially impossible. Production almost certainly kicks off in early 2027 at the soonest. July 2028 gives the film room to breathe.
That matters more for Black Panther 3 than almost any other project in the Marvel pipeline. This film carries weight that most MCU sequels don’t.
Since Chadwick Boseman’s passing in 2020, the franchise has been navigating how to move Wakanda forward without the man who defined it. Wakanda Forever honored Boseman beautifully — Ryan Coogler has said there were points in production where the film felt unfinishable — but it also left a specific, unresolved question: what happens to T’Challa? Toussaint, T’Challa’s son introduced in the Wakanda Forever ending, is out there. A recast T’Challa — potentially through the multiverse reset that Secret Wars is expected to trigger — is firmly on the table. Our own breakdown of how the X-Men and wider Marvel roster fit into Avengers: Doomsday suggests the post-Secret Wars MCU is going to look very different, and Wakanda’s throne question will need answering in that context.
Is Denzel Washington in Black Panther 3? Yes — in some capacity. Washington confirmed as far back as late 2024 that Coogler was “writing a part” for him, and Coogler himself has since confirmed Washington is involved without specifying the role. The two have been circling a collaboration for years. Washington bringing his full weight to a Wakanda story — whether as an elder, a political rival, a spiritual figure, or something else entirely — changes the film’s ceiling considerably. He doesn’t do superhero movies. The fact that he’s here signals Coogler pitched him something worth showing up for.
Who is the new Black Panther? That question remains deliberately open. Damson Idris (Snowfall, F1) has been the most consistently linked name, and on the Today show he declined to flat-out deny he’d spoken to Marvel about the role — adding, when pressed, a definitive “yes” he’d take it if offered. He walked it back somewhat at the Golden Globes in January, but the careful, appreciative way he’s discussed the franchise (“It’s moving in a brilliant direction”) doesn’t sound like someone with no stake in it. Coogler is also said to be writing the script with Denzel Washington’s character as a foundational element, which suggests the story — not just the casting — is being built carefully from the ground up.
That’s the real headline behind the delay. Coogler took the time he needed to make Sinners the way he wanted. It won him an Oscar. He’s apparently applying the same deliberateness to Black Panther 3 — taking on the X-Files pilot as a creative reset, letting the Avengers films reshape the MCU’s landscape before committing to how Wakanda lands on the other side of it. As we’ve covered in our look at what RDJ’s Doctor Doom means for the post-Doomsday MCU, the whole Phase 7 picture is still forming. Coogler building his film around that clarity rather than ahead of it is the smarter move.
Five months longer to wait. Denzel Washington in the cast. A director with a fresh Oscar on the shelf and something to prove. Black Panther 3 landing in July 2028 isn’t a setback — it’s a setup.
Wakanda will return. And it sounds like it’s worth the wait.
We’ll update this piece when Marvel officially confirms the date assignment or production begins. Follow us on X for the latest.