2020 was a rough year for most of the world for a multitude of reasons, one of which was the shocking and untimely passing of Chadwick Boseman. Boseman was a wonderful human being who had quickly made a name for himself in Hollywood with starring roles in films like 42, Get On Up, and the MCU’s Black Panther. While Boseman would undoubtedly have gone on to appear and perform in countless movies throughout a career that was tragically cut short, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe felt the sting of his death a tad harder since they had expected to watch and love Chadwick in his role of King T’Challa for many years to come.

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While saddened by his passing, the world and the MCU have mourned and grieved the late actor and now must look to the future. Fans are wondering what will happen to the Black Panther franchise now? Marvel has been mum on who will assume the mantle and how they will acquire it, but regardless of whoever takes up the role of Black Panther, it can be assumed that Boseman will be given a proper and respectful send-off.

With that in mind, Marvel might decide to bring a few other established MCU heroes into Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as well – and here are our best bets.

Bucky/Winter Soldier/White Wolf

The man of many names. There might be some better guesses about which established MCU heroes could appear in the upcoming Black Panther 2, but don’t dismiss the presence of Bucky (Sebastian Stan) right away. Yes, he already got a decent amount of the spotlight thanks to the show he co-starred in with Falcon on Disney+, but the end result of that series was more of a rebirth with a new Cap and left viewers wanting more from Bucky.

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So, how could Bucky get a bit of a rebirth? He will probably not be paired with Cap anymore, so why not send him back to where he got healed in the first place? Bucky was called White Wolf many times throughout his stay in Wakanda, and while it has been implied to just be a nickname, the character is a real hero from the comics and could easily be a new mantle for Bucky to take up. Not only that, but if Chadwick Boseman is given a proper sendoff in the film, Bucky would understandably want to return and pay respects to the man that healed him.

Dr. Helen Cho

If you thought Bucky was a wild card, then you probably never saw this one coming – but hear us out. It’s a long shot for Dr. Cho (Claudia Kim) to make an appearance, mainly because she only has one in the MCU, and it’s been seven years since that appearance. But there have been plenty of characters in recent months to return to the MCU after stints even longer than that, including Natalie Portman as Jane Foster and Tim Roth as Abomination, so it could happen.

Now, addressing why she might be in this particular movie. Well, she’s one of the few established characters in the MCU who has experience with Vibranium. Fans and viewers can often forget that Vision was a synthetic-android created in the Cradle from artificial tissue combined with Vibranium particles. That being said, it wouldn’t be a wild idea to have Cho return in the upcoming sequel, perhaps to make a synthetic-android Black Panther if the Wakandan tribes decide nobody is worthy of taking up T’Challa’s throne.

Skrulls

While this might seem to light another wild card, it’s not as crazy as people might think. With the announcement of the Secret Invasion television series coming to Disney+, it was revealed that Skrulls have infiltrated every aspect of human life. So, even though Wakandans are known to be more advanced than every other civilization on Earth, they’re still a civilization, and T’Challa opened up their borders to the rest of the world at the conclusion of the first Black Panther film.

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So, with that in mind, it would only make sense that a Skrull or two might pop up, even if it’s just a cameo appearance during a mid or end-credit scene, especially since Secret Invasion should be one of the next MCU projects to debut following Black Panther 2.

The Illuminati

This is actually incredibly plausible. Much like how Nick Fury appeared at the end of Iron Man to discuss the Avengers initiative, fans should expect something similar at the end of Black Panther 2. The MCU is clearly ramping up to something huge with assembling so many different super-teams in the works, but one revealed in Doctor Strange 2 was the existence of the Illuminati. Now, while the Illuminati from Doctor Strange 2 existed in universe 838, the 616 universe is definitely heading toward creating its own. So, who will the 616 Illuminati consist of?

In the comics, the team consisted of characters like Black Panther, Iron Man, and Namor (the sub-mariner King of Atlantis). It just so happens that Black Panther 2 will mark Namor’s MCU debut and feature Riri Williams, a super-genius teenager who builds her own Iron Man suit and takes up the mantle of Ironheart. So, a movie featuring three prominent members of a super-team that the MCU has made strong hints to creating? Sounds plausible to us.