Stan Lee Confirms Marvel Has ‘Black Panther’ Movie In Development

Stan Lee has executive producer credit on all Marvel Studios movies even though 92-year old’s role is largely limited to cameos. He’s obviously kept in the loop by Kevin Feige, who oversees all Marvel movie project, which makes a statement from Lee on the rumored Black Panther movie look solid.

Stan Lee was speaking at Fan Expo Canada where fans asked him a number of questions about his favorites comic book characters, working with comic book legends like Jack Kirby, and the origins of certain character like Spider-Man. It was a question about the possibility of a Black Widow solo movie though that caused Lee to slip the news about Black Panther, as picked up by Comic Book Resources.

“We haven’t made a Black Widow movie but she’s been in some of our movies, and she will be featured more prominently as we move forward. And the chances are she will have her own movie because eventually all the superheroes are going to have their own movies. They are already working on ‘Ant-Man,’ ‘Dr. Strange’ and the ‘Black Panther’ and there are others I am not allowed to talk about.”

The only Marvel Phase 3 movies that have officially been confirmed so far are Avengers: Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and Ant-Man. Doctor Strange is also coming and has already picked up director Scott Derrickson, though no release date has been made official yet. Joaquin Phoenix is among the actors rumored to be up for the role.

Lee’s addition of Black Panther is interesting though. T’Challa, the king and superhero of the fictional African country of Wakanda, has been heavily rumored to receive his own film before Marvel Studios started with Iron Man. Wesley Snipes was said to be highly interested in creating a movie for the character, but his involvement with the Blade films killed that.

How Black Panther will be introduced will also be of interest. Marvel is rumored to be moving away from origin films and there’s a chance that Avengers: Age of Ultron could venture to Wakanda, according to Cinema Blend. For those that don’t know, Wakanda is source of the fictional vibranium metal. It is what makes Captain America’s shield strong enough to withstand Thor’s hammer and is desired by Ultron for obvious reasons.

There are 10 movies scheduled to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 3 between May 1, 2015 with Age of Ultron and a final film on May 3, 2019 presumed to be The Avengers 3. Black Panther seems like it might be a 2017 or 2018 release, though nothing is official including whether or not Ms. Marvel gets her own film.

What do you think of a Black Panther movie from Marvel? Who would you like to see fill the role?

[Images via Marvel, Iron Man 3]