John Boyega Will Not Be In Marvel’s ‘Black Panther’ [UPDATED]
UPDATE:John Boyega will not be inBlack Panther, according to his agent.
My client@JohnBoyegawill not be starring in Black Panther. Now for the news…
— MR FEMI OGUNS (MBE) (@MrFemiOguns)August 16, 2025
Well, at least the film still has all those other incredible stars. Our original story follows.
As it is, the cast forRyan Coogler’sBlack Pantheris almost staggeringly great. In addition toChadwick Bosemanas the title character, it’s gotLupita Nyong’oas a possible love interest andMichael B. Jordanas a potential villain. Plus, there’s a decent chanceAndy Serkis,Martin Freeman, andFlorence Kasumbacould reprise their roles from previous Marvel movies.
But Coogler’s not done. A new rumor going around this week suggestsStar Wars: The Force AwakensstarJohn Boyegacould also be up for a part inBlack Panther.
Here’s the part where we gently but firmly suggest everyone take a deep breath, take a step back, and take a big grain of salt with whatever comes next. The John Boyega Black Panther story is just speculation for now. No one official has confirmed anything; this is just a combination of whispered rumors and circumstantial evidence. But the idea of Boyega joiningBlack Pantheris just too juicy to ignore, so here we go.
Heroic Hollywoodhas heard that Boyega has had meetings forBlack Panther. Meanwhile,Best of Marvelhas noticed that Boyega Snapchatted about a mysterious meeting just minutes before Marvel Studios presidentKevin Feigestarted following him on Twitter. Like Nyong’o, Boyega is already part of the Disney family thanks toStar Wars, though the two mega-franchises have less casting overlap than you might expect.
Now, this could be nothing. Boyega surely has all sorts of meetings about all sorts of things all the time, and it’s possible Feige is following Boyega for the same reason the rest of us are: because he is charming and hilarious. But it sounds somewhat plausible, if only because it’s clear Marvel and Coogler have been able to attract some real heavyweight talent for this project. For what it’s worth, Boyega doesseem to be a Marvel fan; back before Boseman locked in the role, Boyega dropped a few half-joking hints about wanting in.
If Boyega does sign on, that’d be amazing — he’s a phenomenally talented and charismatic actor and we’d be eager to see him rub up against Boseman, Chadwick, and Nyong’o (presumably in non-CG form this time). But given that he’s already leading one of the biggest film franchises on the planet, we should be seeing plenty of him in the near future either way.
Regardless, expectBlack Pantherto be loaded with black talent. Feige has promised “90%” of the cast will be “either African or African-American” (presumably, African-British, like Boyega, would be considered close enough), and Coogler still has a lot of roles to fill. Not only willBlack Pantherbe the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie with a non-white lead, it’ll be the first MCU film with a predominantly non-white ensemble cast.
Black PantherarrivesFebruary 16, 2018, which is slightly upsetting because that’s still too damn far away.
