Lupita Nyong'o Is In Talks For Black Panther's Love Interest

According to a breaking news story on The Hollywood Reporter,Oscar winner Lupita NYong'o could be the next big name actor cast in the MCU. She's apparently in early talks to star opposite Chadwick Boseman in Ryan Coogler€˜s upcoming Wakanda set standalone.

Their source says she's in talks to play Black Panther's love interest, which will no doubt immediately launch a thousand questions over why there even has to be a love interest in a superhero movie. Anyway, sometimes it's nice to see romance.

Unfortunately, that presumably won't be Ororo Munroe - otherwise known as the X-Men member Storm - since Fox still own her rights. It's a shame we can't get a deal cut between the two studios soon that would allow the cross-over, as I'd be a hell of a lot more keen to see this version of Storm than Halle Berry. And the early reports from X-Men Apocalypse aren't exactly filling anyone with confidence about the new Storm either.

Perhaps Nyong'o will be a wholly new character introduced to take the place of Munroe? That would make sense, and if it means she's super-powered in her own right, even better.

We're being promised more on this story as it breaks, but it's certainly a shot in the arm of Black Panther, which was already enjoying improved hype on the back of T'Challa's supporting role in Captain America: Civil War.

It looks like there's a pretty clear picture of how Black Panther is shaping up: we'll no doubt see more of Bucky (unless he's going to be left in the freezer), and more of Andy Serkis' Ulysses Klaue (complete, at some point, with a cool arm augmentation). Hopefully we'll also see more of T'Challa's female security guard, who caught some hype despite limited screen time.

Are you excited by this news? Share your reactions below in the comments thread.