Black Panther 2 will officially hit theaters on May 6th, 2022. Marvel Studios had to leave some room for D23 after their explosive announcements at last month's San Diego Comic-Con and T'Challa was left out of the fun. However, that has all changed since Kevin Feige invited Ryan Coogler to the D23 stage to announce the highly anticipated sequel. No other announcements were made about the movie, but it is great to finally have a firm release date for one of the biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe projects ever.

As we learned today at the D23 Expo, The May 2022 release date may find Black Panther 2 kicking off the MCU's Phase 5. Phase 4 will come to a close in November 2021 with Thor: Love and Thunder. Ryan Coogler is returning to write and direct the sequel with Chadwick Boseman back as T'Challa. Though not confirmed, it is believed Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, and Martin Freeman will be reprising their respective roles. This is huge news for Marvel fans who have been waiting for some good news this week.

Marvel Studios has been dominating D23, much like they did with last month's Comic-Con. Yesterday saw the announcement of even more Disney+ shows, including She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and the confirmation of the Ms. Marvel series, which will also see the character coming on board the big screen too. It was also announced that Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan will be reprising their roles for the upcoming Marvel's What If..? show. There is no word on whether or not Jordan will be coming back for a cameo in Black Panther 2 at this time, but it doesn't seem probable.

Black Panther was one of Marvel's biggest triumphs at the box office when it was released in 2018. The movie was able to draw an audience that had never had any interest in seeing a comic book movie before and ended up becoming a cultural phenomenon. Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa then showed up just a few months later in Infinity War, where he was Decimated by the Mad Titan's mighty snap. Fans were left wondering who would take on the throne of Wakanda, but Avengers: Endgame brought the hero back to life.

Obviously, story details are being kept under wraps for Black Panther 2. Marvel Studios is notorious for keeping their secrets hid right up until their movies hit theaters, so don't expect too many leaks to find their way online between now and then. In addition, we are waiting on a production start date for the sequel, which will probably start in either late 2020 or early 2021 to make the release date goal. For now, MCU fans will just have to be happy that Kevin Feige and crew have officially announced Black Panther 2. You can check out the announcement below, thanks to the Marvel Entertainment Twitter account.