Of all the forks in the road Kevin Feige and the Marvel Cinematic Universe had to encounter over the years, perhaps none came with greater import than the tragic death of “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman in 2020. Though many were caught off guard by his secret battle with cancer for several years, director Ryan Coogler and his creative team wasted no time turning what became “Wakanda Forever” into a feature-length celebration of the actor’s life and the void left by his passing. That meant acknowledging T’Challa’s death with an in-universe explanation and passing on the mantle to his supporting cast (namely his sister Shuri, played by Letitia Wright), rather than recasting the character and forging ahead with Coogler’s original plans for the sequel. That choice appeared to set the tone for how the MCU would approach the “Black Panther” franchise in the years ahead … but, if it can be believed, a new rumor might be adding a whole new wrinkle.

In Jeff Sneider’s latest newsletter of The InSneider, the scooper alleges that the studio seems to be rethinking the future of T’Challa in the MCU. Although it’s important to note that Marvel offered no comment on the report and that Sneider himself couches much of this as “based on what I’m hearing from agency sources,” the rumor centers on the idea that the heavy focus on the multiverse moving forward makes it all the more likely that Marvel is keen on recasting T’Challa with another Black actor. As Sneider explains:

“In fact, I heard that an actor was actually offered the role [of T’Challa] this past fall, a couple of months after [Robert Downey Jr.’s] big reveal at Comic-Con, but they turned it down, not wanting to jeopardize their career momentum by stepping into Boseman’s gigantic shoes, which may be too big to fill, even for Hollywood’s most talented Black actors.”

Are Shuri’s days as our newest Black Panther already numbered? That appears to be the main takeaway from Jeff Sneider’s latest report, but there might be plenty of room for interpretation once we start reading between the lines. For Sneider’s part, he goes on to say that any reluctance on the part of actors to accept the role is only a temporary concern: “But rest assured, someone will be willing to say ‘Yes’ and pay tribute to Boseman with their performance.” It’s unknown if Marvel has any plans on including T’Challa in upcoming blockbusters like “Avengers: Doomsday” or “Avengers: Secret War,” but the report states that “it’s fair to assume that whoever is cast as the character will reprise the role in ‘Black Panther 3.’“

But what if all isn’t exactly as it seems? Sneider seems pretty confident that the T’Challa his sources are referring to actually means Chadwick Boseman’s character, but remember that “Wakanda Forever” introduced his and Nakia’s (Lupita Nyong’o) infant son in a post-credits scene, also named T’Challa. Couldn’t it be possible (if not likely) that all this talk about recasting T’Challa actually refers to a grown-up version of this character instead? That would certainly line up with the implications of that particular scene and “Wakanda Forever” in general, which leaned heavily on the idea of respecting Boseman’s legacy through the characters closest to him.

Of course, it’s also worth pointing out that the decision to retire the character from live-action (he’s appeared in a few episodes of Marvel’s animated series “What If…” since then) has come with a certain amount of consternation among Marvel fans. T’Challa is an immensely popular character from the comics and an argument could be made that keeping him in the mix throughout the MCU would be yet another way to pay homage to Boseman. For now, we’ll have to wait and see how “Black Panther 3” shapes up, which will likely feature Denzel Washington in an unknown role.