Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Post-Credits Scene: What Does the Reveal of Baby T’Challa Mean for the Future of the MCU?

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Every Marvel fan knows that the movie doesn’t end once the credits roll. There is always a post-credit scene or two that hints at the next Marvel project. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, now streaming on Disney+, ends with Shuri on a beach in Haiti, mourning the deaths of both her mother, Queen Ramonda, played by Angela Bassett, and T’Challa, played by the late Chadwick Boseman. As the credits roll, Rihanna’s “Lift Me Up” starts playing. But once the song finishes, viewers are brought back to the beach with Shuri.

Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), who was T’Challa’s ex-girlfriend in the first movie, can be seen coming into the frame with a child who is about five or six years old. She says that she wants to introduce him to his auntie Shuri and reveals she had him before T’Challa passed. Shuri asked if her mother met him and Nakia says that she did. The young boy introduces himself to her and says that while his Haitian name is Toussaint, his Wakandan name is Prince T’Challa. Nakia tells Shuri that King T’Challa suggested they leave Wakanda and settle elsewhere so the young boy would not have to grow up with the pressures of the throne.

Does T’Challa have a kid in the comics and what does this mean for the future of the MCU?

Prince T’Challa might fit into the Young Avengers, a group of young teens and kids that were originally introduced in the Marvel comics, and which the MCU has been teasing for a while. Some Young Avengers are direct descendants of the Marvel Avengers: Wanda’s kids, Speed and Wiccan; Hulk’s son Skaar; Ant-Man’s daughter, Cassie Lang. Viewers were also introduced to some members as sidekicks in recent Marvel projects: Kate Bishop in Hawkeye and America Chavez in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. We also see the introduction of Patriot in Falcon and the Winter Soldier as Falcon meets with the man who was first injected with the Super-Soldier Serum; and Kid Loki in Loki.

T’Challa does have a son in the comics multiverse—with Storm from the X-Men, not Nakia. The Black Panther also doesn’t have a younger counterpart in the Young Avengers in the comics.

While there have not been any announcements on the future of Wakanda, text appears after the credits that says, “The Black Panther will return.”