Marvel Won’t Recast Black Panther; Plots ‘Fantastic Four Reboot,’ Casts Christian Bale in ‘Thor 4’

Big things are they are in very early development on a “Fantastic Four” movie, Bale will play the villain in “Thor: Love and Thunder;” and T’Challaa will not be recast but there will be a “Black Panther 2.”

Marvel Studios announced slew of confirmations for their upcoming slate of comic book adaptations, but the biggest among them were the decisions made for the Wakanda universe. Addressing the tragic loss of “Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman, Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige confirmed there will be no recasting of this icon.

His work as Black Panther “transcends any iteration of the character,” says Feige. Out of respect Marvel will not recast the role but to “honor the legacy we want to continue to explore the world of Wakanda.”

Next up on the Marvel news dump was the solidifying the future of the Richard family. At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con Feige announced that Marvel was reclaiming The Fantastic Four comic book family (and friends) for a feature film. This world has already seen three iterations of “Fantastic Four” (in 1994, 2005 and 2015) but we’ve yet to see Feige’s vision for this super hero squad. So who will lead this new reboot? Feige announced that Jon Watts the director who steered Tom Holland’s “Spider-Man” reboot with “Homecoming” and “Far From Home” is slated to lead this production.

The Fantastic Four is a superhero team consisting of Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards), who can contort and stretch his body in extraordinary ways; the Invisible Woman (Sue Storm), who can, unsurprisingly, make herself invisible; the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), who can generate flames from his body and fly; and the Thing (Ben Grimm), who possesses stone-like flesh and has superhero-level strength and durability.

In other news, Christian Bale will finally make a Marvel movie. The actor’s role as a villain in “Thor: Love and Thunder” was confirmed.