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Back in November, while doing press for “Gladiator II,” Denzel Washington mentioned on “Today” in Australia that filmmaker Ryan Coogler was writing a part for him in “Black Panther 3.” Now, thanks to Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson’s conversation with him on “Nightcap,” Coogler has had his first opportunity to talk about the two-time Oscar winner Washington joining his cast.

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“Yeah, I’ve been dying to work with Denzel, man, and I’m hoping we can make that happen,” Coogler said. “I have every intention of working with him in that movie. As long as he itches to do it, it’s gonna happen. You know, he’s a living legend and a great mentor for so many of us. He’s all about looking out for us now.”

“Black Panther 3” is still early enough in the development phase that Marvel has yet to add it to its release schedule, but it should be no surprise that a third entry is on the way. In 2018 “Black Panther” made $1.3 billion while the 2022 follow-up “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” netted $859.2 million. During a time when Marvel movies aren’t the sure bets they once were, a new “Black Panther” sequel seems as good an idea as any.

As far as who Denzel might be playing, at this point that’s anyone’s guess. Some fans even speculate the multiverse might come into play, with Washington playing variants of either T’Challa or his father T’Chaka.

One of the top names that’s coming up is Achebe. The character was created during Christopher Priest’s “Black Panther” comic book run. A refugee from the fictional village Ghudaza, Achebe is described as kind of a mix between Kaiser Soze of “The Usual Suspects” fame and the Joker. He has no enhanced abilities but instead manipulates his way into the halls of power. He’s an eccentric who’s known for, among other things, carrying around a hand puppet version of himself.

We don’t know who Denzel Washington will play in “Black Panther 3” but we do know the cast from the “Black Panther” movies will be well represented in the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday.” Letitia Wright (Shuri) and Winston Duke (M’Baku) were two of the names recently revealed in Marvel’s 5-hour long announcement for the event film.

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