Way back in 1992, plans were set in motion to bring Marvel's Black Panther to the big screen with Wesley Snipes in the lead role, as T'Challa, king of the fictional African nation of Wakanda and the titular super hero. But after many, many stops and starts, the movie seemed less and less like it was going to happen, but it always seemed hanging around, with Marvel Studio's president Kevin Feige saying in 2007 that it was on their production slate. Now, seven years later, the movie seems to be finally going ahead, with confirmation from Stan Lee himself. Speaking at Fan Expo Canada, Lee was fielding a question about a solo Black Widow movie, and said "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, Doctor Strange and the Black Panther, and there are others I am not allowed to talk about".
Information has been trickling out about Marvel's Phase Three movies, kicking off with the currently filming Ant-Man (released July 15th 2015), as of late. With Scott Derrickson's Doctor Strange, and now seemingly Black Panther on the cards (there is one slot left open in Marvel's release schedule for a May 2017 release), it looks to be in contrast with the sequel heavy second phase, with only Captain America 3, set for release May 6th 2016, the only established character represented at the moment (Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in 2017 hasn't been confirmed as Phase Three or Phase Four). While it still needs to be confirmed by Marvel Studios, I think Black Panther could be highly likely, considering how long it has been in development in different iteration (in 2009, it was almost good to go, with John Singelton signed on as director). No doubt we'll here more as Phase Three pushes ever closer.
