David Jonsson Is the MCU’s New Black Panther

Marvel has officially found its next Black Panther, and somehow they managed to pick the guy who was my favorite part of both Alien: Romulus and The Long Walk.

David Jonsson will play an adult version of T’Challa II in Black Panther 3, directed once again by Ryan Coogler and scheduled to arrive in theaters on December 15, 2028.

Before anyone starts yelling about Marvel replacing Chadwick Boseman, that isn’t what’s happening here.

Jonsson is playing Toussaint, the son of T’Challa and Nakia who was introduced during the final scene of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Nakia revealed that his Wakandan name was also T’Challa, setting up the possibility that he would eventually inherit his father’s name and the Black Panther mantle.

“Eventually” now appears to mean immediately after Avengers: Secret Wars does whatever the hell it’s planning to do to the MCU timeline.

Jonsson is already 32 years old, so Marvel clearly isn’t bringing him in to play a slightly older version of the child we met in Wakanda Forever. Either Secret Wars creates a major time jump, the character comes from somewhere else in the multiverse or Wakanda has been hiding one hell of a growth formula alongside all that vibranium.

Whatever the explanation turns out to be, the casting works for me.

Jonsson was easily my favorite part of Alien: Romulus, where he somehow made Andy feel sympathetic, unsettling and dangerous depending on which version of the character was standing in front of us. He was also the standout in The Long Walk, so seeing Ryan Coogler choose him after watching that performance makes complete sense to me.

Jonsson has the kind of screen presence that can carry a character without constantly announcing how important he is. That feels especially important when the character is inheriting both the Black Panther mantle and the name T’Challa.

I’ve also loved the Creed series. Those movies understood that legacy only matters when the person inheriting it feels like an actual character instead of a replacement part wearing somebody else’s costume. Coogler helped build that series around the weight of Rocky Balboa’s history without allowing Adonis Creed to disappear beneath it, and Black Panther 3 now faces a much more delicate version of the same challenge.

That doesn’t mean I loved Black Panther as much as nearly everyone else seemed to.

There were parts of it that were great, particularly Michael B. Jordan’s Killmonger and Chadwick Boseman’s performance, but the movie as a whole never hit me quite as hard as it seemed to hit the rest of the planet. I respected what it accomplished more than I loved the entire thing.

That may be another reason this casting has my attention. Jonsson has already made two movies better simply by being in them, and Coogler has already proven that he knows how to continue a story without disrespecting the person who came before.

Letitia Wright and Winston Duke joined Jonsson during the announcement, although Marvel hasn’t revealed exactly where Shuri and M’Baku will fit into the story. Shuri currently holds the Black Panther mantle, while M’Baku appeared to challenge for Wakanda’s throne at the end of Wakanda Forever.

That leaves Black Panther 3 with plenty to explain, but the most important question has finally been answered.

Marvel isn’t erasing Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa or pretending his story never happened. His son is carrying it forward, with a director who understands legacy and an actor who has already been the best part of the last two movies I saw him in.

I may not worship at the altar of the first Black Panther, but that feels like a pretty damn good place to start.