New images of promo merch for the upcoming Black Panther: Wakanda Forever shows Shuri with a brand-new look for the highly anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel.
The photos, which recently surfaced online, reveal a Sprite tie-in promotion featuring Letitia Wright's genius Princess of Wakanda as well as Danai Gurira's fierce warrior Okoye. While Okoye is shown wearing her traditional Dora Milaje garb from previous MCU entries, Shuri is sporting a sleek purple jacket, a new hairstyle, and an elaborate tattoo on her right hand.
While a trailer for the film is still to come, the first footage from Wakanda Forever debuted at CinemaCon in April. The brief clip showed Shuri, Okoye, and Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o) united in battle and facing down an unknown threat. As rumor has it, the threat in question is Namor the Sub-Mariner and his allies.
Shuri was introduced in 2018's Black Panther as the genius younger sister of the late Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa/Black Panther. An innovator with genius-level intellect, Shuri was responsible for developing Wakanda's modern technology and designing the current iteration of the famous Black Panther suit. In Avengers: Infinity War, Shuri nearly succeeds in removing the Mind Stone from Vision's head, only to be ambushed and later "dusted" when Thanos completes his mission to remove half of all life from the universe. She is then resurrected by Hulk using the Infinity Gauntlet and participates in Avengers: Endgame's Battle of Earth.
Wright recently touched on her experience filming Wakanda Forever and how the film celebrates Boseman's memory, calling it "an incredible honor" for the late actor. "We committed every day to working hard, no matter what circumstances we faced. And we faced a lot of circumstances -- a lot of difficult situations -- but we came together as a team," she said, referring to the production's various delays due to COVID-19 and on-set injuries.
Other returning MCU characters include Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross, Daniel Kaluuya as W'Kabi, Winston Duke as M'Baku and Angela Bassett as Ramonda, Queen Mother of Wakanda and Shuri's mother. Newcomer Dominique Thorne is set to star as Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, a notable character from the Marvel comics who builds a suit of armor rivaling that of Tony Stark/Iron Man.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to arrive in theaters on Nov. 11, nearly six months after its original May release date.
Source: Twitter
