T’Challa can return to the MCU in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, presenting Marvel Studios with the opportunity to revive an 18-year-old unused Black Panther casting choice. Recent speculation has suggested that Marvel Studios may be gearing up to reintroduce T’Challa’s Black Panther to the MCU four years after the late Chadwick Boseman’s tragic pᴀssing. Exploring an alternate universe in The Fantastic Four: First Steps provides Marvel with the perfect opportunity to debut a new version of this iconic MCU hero, and the perfect actor might have already been chosen.

Marvel Studios’ official Fantastic Four team, comprising Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s тιтular heroes, is the fifth version of Marvel’s First Family brought into live-action. The most prominent version of the team previously seen on-screen debuted in 2005 and embarked on a sequel in 2007, but the MCU’s Fantastic Four is expected to be the strongest, most comic-accurate and most energetic iteration yet. This doesn’t mean director Matt Shakman couldn’t borrow one genius Black Panther casting choice from the Fantastic Four movies of the 2000s.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps Could Include Other 1960s-Themed Heroes

MCU’s Fantastic Four Reboot Will Explore An Alternate Universe

It’s been known for some time that July 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be set primarily in an alternate reality across the MCU’s multiverse. This parallel universe is retro-futuristic, with a style inspired by the 1960s, and the design of the Fantastic Four, their celebrity status and the appearance of their alternate New York City proves this will introduce a vibrant, colorful and exciting new world to the MCU. Exploring this alternate universe creates the opportunity for the Fantastic Four to cross paths with other 1960s-inspired heroes, and this could include the Black Panther.

T’Challa first appeared in 1966’s Fantastic Four #52 in Marvel Comics, so it would be great to see the Black Panther appear alongside the Fantastic Four in their upcoming MCU debut. This variant of Chadwick Boseman’s Wakandan superhero could be more closely inspired by his Marvel Comics counterpart, rather than the more modernized take on the character that appeared in Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. Any number of brilliant actors have the salt to become the Black Panther, but Marvel has the chance to revive one unused casting choice from 2007.

Djimon Hounsou Could Debut As T’Challa’s Black Panther 18 Years After His Fantastic Four 3 Hopes According To MCU Theory

The Fantastic Four Almost Met The Black Panther In The 2000s

The potential for a variant of T’Challa to debut in The Fantastic Four: First Steps means Marvel can revive director Tim Story’s original plan for the Wakandan hero. Story directed 2005’s Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, and was interested in returning for a third and fourth movie depending on the success of the sequel. While these movies didn’t come to fruition, Story still revealed his plans to the LA Times (via IGN) in May 2007, including the fact he wanted to cast Djimon Hounsou as T’Challa’s Black Panther in Fantastic Four 3.

I’ve got to tell you, to get the Fantastic Four and turn it into a franchise, the first thing I thought was, ‘Will I get the Silver Surfer? Or someone like Black Panther, who was introduced in their book, get Djimon Hounsou and go do it?’ But there are so many other great villains and stories – I feel like I hit the jackpot.

Tim Story put the Silver Surfer to use in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, though the planet-eater Galactus was controversially transformed into an amorphous cloud of cosmic gas in the movie, rather than a looming humanoid being. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to redeem this creative choice by introducing Ralph Ineson as a comic-accurate Galactus and Julia Garner as a new Silver Surfer. Marvel could also make Djimon Hounsou’s casting as the Black Panther come to life for the first time, finally realizing Tim Story’s dream for T’Challa.

Djimon Hounsou’s Previous Superhero Franchise Experience Would Make Him A Perfect Black Panther

Djimon Hounsou Has Had Many Superhero Franchise Roles

Djimon Hounsou is an inspired choice to take on the role of T’Challa’s Black Panther, particularly since he is a veteran of many different superhero movies and franchises, including the MCU. Hounsou debuted as the Kree warrior Korath the Pursuer in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy, a role that he reprised in 2019’s Captain Marvel and an episode of What If…? season 1. Outside the MCU, Hounsou portrayed Papa Midnite in Constantine, the Wizard in Shazam! and its sequel, various other roles in the DCEU’s Aquaman franchise and Martian Emperor in the animated Invincible series.

Additionally, Djimon Hounsou even voiced T’Challa in the six-episode Marvel Knights Animation Black Panther series in 2010. His extensive experience working in superhero projects make him the perfect candidate for a larger role in the MCU, as his appearances as Korath have been brief. Hounsou’s theatricality and captivating performance style would fit a 1960s-inspired Black Panther perfectly, which makes us want to see him return to the MCU as T’Challa in The Fantastic Four: First Steps even more.

Upcoming MCU Movies

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  Thunderbolts*

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  May 2, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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  July 25, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Doomsday (2026)

  
  
  
  
  

  
  

  
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  Spider-Man Homecoming 4

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  Avengers: Secret Wars

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  May 7, 2027
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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