Back at the San Diego Comic-Con in July, it was revealed that two-time Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou (In America, Blood Diamond) had joined the cast of Guardians of the Galaxy in the role of the villain Korath the Pursuer, but it seems he’s also eyeing another more heroic role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the actor revealing he still has ambitions to win the role of the Black Panther in the long-gestating movie adaptation…
“It would be an honour to be T’Challa,” Hounsou tells the Toronto Sun. “It would have to be done right, given the history of that character and that comic. I have a foot in the Marvel comics world now, so we’ll see where they’re going to take that.” At 49 years of age, Hounsou is probably too old to portray the king of Wakanda, but T’Challa’s father T’Chaka could certainly be a possibility, assuming Marvel Studios is willing to have an actor portray two different roles within the MCU…
A Black Panther movie has been in the pipeline for over twenty years now, with Wesley Snipes (Blade) originally announcing in 1992 that he planned to bring the character to the screen. It was also one of the original titles announced by Marvel Studios back in 2005, while Mark Bailey (Ghosts of Abu Ghraib) was brought in in 2011 to pen a script. Since then things have fallen silent, although there’s been whispers that T’Challa could appear in 2015’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron as well as potentially getting his own solo movie as part of Marvel’s Phase Three.
Originally published September 24, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
