One Of Denzel Washington’s Last Movies Will Be ‘Black Panther 3,’ He Reveals

Denzel Washington may be headed toward another Oscar nomination or win for his role in Gladiator II, many are saying, but the 69 year-old actor says that he’s planning to retire after just a few more movies. One of those? Black Panther 3, it turns out. Yes, Denzel Washington will be joining the MCU, however briefly.

In an interview with the Today Show, Denzel revealed that director Ryan Coogler is writing a role for him specifically in Black Panther 3. No, Denzel Washington does not audition for existing roles, don’t be absurd. But we do not know what that role will be, hero, villain, big Marvel character or not. Here is the full list of films that Denzel confirms he will make:

• Spike Lee’s High N Low
• Antoine Fuqua’s Hannibal
• A Steve McQueen movie
• Black Panther 3
• An Othello adaptation

Five more movies is certainly enough to probably carry him into his mid-70s so yeah, I think he deserves retirement after that. Though of course we have seen many actors “retire” and come back for some other role or another that appeals to them enough.

As for Black Panther 3, the project has not even been officially confirmed by Marvel yet, though obviously it exists. But it does not have a release date and Marvel’s current MCU film list appears to be pretty solidly mapped out through early 2027. So we may be waiting a while to see this come to fruition.

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There’s little point speculating on what role Denzel will take within the cast of Black Panther. I’ve heard Blue Marvel, but that’s just speculation. I’m wondering if he wanted to get involved not just because of Coogler, but seeing what great material Angela Bassett was given to work with in the second film, which earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Oscars, which usually ignores most superhero movies.

We are still waiting to figure out what exactly the plan is for Black Panther as a character going forward. Shuri took up the mantle in the second film, with the tragic death of Chadwick Boseman meaning he could no longer wear the cowl, and T’Challa also died in-universe as well. It was later revealed he had a son no one knew about, and the idea is that perhaps he could grow up and become the new, “final” version of Black Panther in the MCU. Though that would have to be quite the time jump. I would not expect further details on any of this for a good long time.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.