This just happened in Hall H. Marvel Studios confirmed Black Panther 3 on stage at San Diego Comic-Con, put a theatrical date on the board, and named the next face under the mask: David Jonsson as the son of King T'Challa.
The date
Black Panther 3 opens December 15, 2028. That puts Wakanda after the next two Avengers tentpoles: Avengers: Doomsday (December 18, 2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (December 17, 2027). Marvel is stacking Decembers on purpose.
Who David Jonsson is playing
Jonsson joins as T'Challa's son, also named T'Challa. Audiences already met him as a child in the final scene of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), standing with his aunt Shuri after the mantle shifted. The Comic-Con reveal ages that thread up into the lead of the third film.
If you only know Jonsson from HBO's Industry or Stephen King's The Long Walk, this is the jump: a Marvel lead after a few years of breakout work. On stage he kept it short: "Believe me, the honor is entirely mine."
What else is locked
Ryan Coogler returns. He directed both prior Black Panther films and is back for the trilogy closer after Sinners.
Shuri is still in the fight. Letitia Wright's Shuri took the Black Panther mantle in Wakanda Forever and is set to appear as Black Panther again in Avengers: Doomsday this December. The third film does not erase that chapter. It builds past it.
The Chadwick Boseman era stays sacred. Jonsson is not a recast of Boseman's T'Challa. The story line is the next generation: the son introduced after the original king's death.
What is still foggy
Marvel did not dump a full plot synopsis, a complete cast sheet, or a Phase number branding package with the date. Denzel Washington has said for years that Coogler wrote him into a superhero movie and that Black Panther 3 is the one. Treat that as loud industry chatter until Marvel puts him on a slide.
Also unsettled: how much time passes between Secret Wars and this film, and whether the mantle on Jonsson's T'Challa is brand-new or shared after Shuri's Doomsday run. Hall H answered the who and when. The how waits for footage.