Rumor: Black Panther 3 To Release In 2028

The Fantastic Four: First Steps officially heralded the start of Phase Six of the MCU and the end of the Multiverse Saga, which means it's time to speculate about where the MCU goes after that ends. Jeff Sneider claims that the answer may be Black Panther 3, directed by Ryan Coogler.

Now ordinarily we don't talk about things like this, specifically claims from insiders we can't verify ourselves, however this leads to an interesting question as we move into the next saga, presumed to be the Mutant Saga. Sneider claims that the February 18th, 2028 date, currently reserved by an untitled Marvel Studios film, will be Black Panther 3, and this will be just two months after Avengers: Secret Wars, currently slated for release in December 2027.

Considering we have only been through this once before with the MCU (in the immediate aftermath of Endgame), we do have a little bit of an idea of how this could play out. If you recall, we did not receive concrete news about Phase Four until San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, which was after Endgame and even Spider-Man: Far From Home had been released. The issue is that Endgame came out in May, Far From Home came out in early July, and Marvel Studios didn't have a release set until May 2020 (Black Widow, which was eventually delayed due to COVID). With a December release for Secret Wars, they can't replicate that again, especially with 4 release dates reserved.

Realistically, I don't think we are looking at releases by Marvel Studios in both November 2028 and December 2028; I think holding both these dates is hedging their bets to see how Doomsday and Secret Wars do in that slot. If they do better than Infinity War and Endgame, they'll move the big event movies to December and ditch a November release, if they do worse, they'll keep May as the event release date and ditch the December date. That said, 2028 could be the "holding pattern year" where they do a few sequels to sate audiences while they get their footing and are able to fully unveil the Mutant Saga slate.

If we come out of Doomsday and Secret Wars with Black Panther 3 in February 2028 (which would track around the 10th anniversary of the release of Black Panther) followed by Shang-Chi 2, Doctor Strange 3, or Thor 5 across the remaining dates, this would give them ample time to promote these movies, commit to a concrete release slate for 2029, and kick off the Mutant Saga with a level of preparedness we have not seen in a long time from Marvel Studios.