Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to introduce two key new heroes into the MCU. First, there’s Namor, the Sub-Mariner, who we’re pretty sure will be played by Tenoch Huerta (thanks to his SpongeBob SquarePants meme game). The Atlantean king is the one grabbing much of the fan attention, but let’s not overlook the fact that Ironheart is likewise set to debut in the sequel, as portrayed by newcomer Dominique Thorne.
Despite Thorne landing her very own Ironheart Disney Plus TV series, due to follow Wakanda Forever, we still know very little about how Riri Williams will arrive in the MCU. But this new merch gives us our best look yet at Riri’s Mark I suit of armor. As shared by @themcutimes, two Black Panther 2 shirts have materialized, one of which features the film’s four leading ladies and the other spotlights Ironheart in all her half-finished glory.
If any fans are feeling underwhelmed with this bulky armor, don’t worry, this is only Riri’s equivalent of Tony Stark’s OG armor that he made from scraps. In the comics, Riri first becomes Ironheart when she manages to reverse-engineer her own armor from recovered Iron Man tech. The odds are that this backstory is being kept for the MCU. It also feels like a good bet that Riri will earn herself a much sleeker costume design by the end of the film, thereby paving the way for her spinoff show.
By the looks of these tees, BP2 will put a lot of focus on its female leads, with Letitia Wright’s Shuri, Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, and Danai Gurira’s Okoye no doubt getting a bigger share of the screentime in the follow-up. Of course, fans are going to miss Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa like crazy, but it helps that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has such a strong ensemble cast of characters to carry it, both old and new. The sequel hits theaters this Nov. 11.