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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s biggest surprise cameo might not happen

Updated Oct 31st, 2022 10:32AM EDT
Shuri (Letitia Wright) in the first Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer.
Image: Marvel Studios

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We’re less than three weeks from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’s release date and Marvel will be bombarding us with new ads for the nearly 3-hour movie. But the studio won’t deliver any big revelations about the film’s plot. Instead, it’s up to leaks and rumors to do that. And a fresh claim indicates the massive Wakanda Forever surprise cameo that we expected from Black Panther 2 won’t happen.

Fans of MCU rumors already have a pretty good idea of what that cameo is. But if you’ve been avoiding Wakanda Forever spoilers all year long, you should stop reading right here.

The Wakanda Forever surprise cameo

Wakanda Forever trailers and clips tell the same general story. Wakanda will come at odds with some countries in the wake of T’Challa’s death. The film will honor Chadwick Boseman’s MCU legacy by not recasting the character. Instead, the MCU is moving on to a new Black Panther superhero.

The most prominent antagonist in Wakanda Forever seems to be Namor (Tenoch Huerta), who will fight against Wakanda and the new Black Panther. Joining the latter is one of the big Black Panther 2 cameos that Marvel is willing to spoil. We have Ironheart (Dominique Thorne), the superhero who will replace Iron Man in the MCU, fighting alongside Black Panther.

A poster showing King T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) during the funeral.
A poster showing King T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) during the funeral. Image source: Marvel Studios

The trailers and clips we saw so far gave us a look at Riri Williams working on the Ironheart armor and wearing it in battle.

But the biggest cameo surprise of Wakanda Forever was rumored to come during the credits scenes.

Leaks say that none other than Doctor Doom will appear in one of them. We’ll learn that Namor wasn’t the film’s main villain, even though he battled Black Panther and Wakanda.

Instead, it’s Doctor Doom pulling the strings. And it might be all part of a bigger storyline that we’re yet to understand.

Doctor Doom might not appear in Black Panther 2

We have yet to determine who will play Doctor Doom in the MCU, although an exciting rumor says that Adam Driver might be one of the actors that Marvel is looking at.

Moreover, older reports claim that Marvel might have shot Doctor Doom scenes for Wakanda Forever without revealing the actor behind the mask. That would be enough for a crazy cameo that will connect Wakanda Forever to the greater MCU storylines in the Multiverse Saga’s phases.

But an insider who goes by the name of BigScreenLeaks on Twitter says that Doctor Doom might not appear in the film at all.

“The lesson that everyone will learn from the Doctor Doom in BP2 rumor is ‘If it’s too good to be true, that’s because it usually is,'” he said on Twitter.

The leaker did not reveal additional information about Doctor Doom. And let’s remember that we saw similarly exciting MCU cameo rumors that did not pan out. Like Mephisto being the villain of WandaVision. Or Tom Cruise’s Iron Man appearing in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Since rumors say Doctor Doom was supposed to appear in the credits scenes, Marvel can always change those up without worrying too much about the film’s overall plot.

Then again, a Doctor Doom cameo isn’t needed to make Wakanda Forever a great story. But it’s something that fans would definitely appreciate, as it would get us a little closer to that Fantastic Four reboot we’re dying to see.


More Marvel coverage: For more MCU news, visit our Marvel guide.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.