And Wright is happy to spitball a spin-off teaming her innovative princess up with everyone’s favorite web-slinger, Peter Parker. She spins out a story that includes Shuri “mocking” Peter and Tony for their “outdated” tech, grabbing a slice with Tom Holland, “and then I’ll probably help him with his suit and try to improve it behind Tony Stark’s back. I think that would be a good plot for a new movie.” After all, as Wright points out, she and Holland are among the few Avengers under the age of 30. With Marvel planning out its cinematic universe for more than a decade at least, the time to plant seeds for a new generation is already here.

The path to superhero royalty began with a spelling bee. Having immigrated from Guyana to London when she was 7, and using her boundless energy and uncanny knack for mimicry to shake the new-kid stigma, Wright was a young teenager when she first saw Keke Palmer in the 2006 indie Akeelah and the Bee. Palmer’s “nerdy” but “cool” bespectacled character sparked something in Wright—not just the acting bug, but a desire to show audiences a new kind of relatable character, something she hopes to pass on to young fans with Black Panther.

Her parents weren’t immediately sold on the idea of a teenage Wright throwing herself entirely into acting: “In my country where I was born, Guyana, we push more for education. . . . It’s more being a lawyer, doctor, teacher, or scientist. So it was something I had to just really prove—not only to myself, but to my parents, that I could do it, and I can make a living from it, and that I was kind of good at it.” Now, even her mother agrees: she’s good at it.

Wright attended London’s Identity School of Acting, a relatively recently established multicultural program that was formed in response to some of the mustier art schools in town; it boasts John Boyega and Wright among its notable alumni. The teenaged Wright was rushing full-steam ahead to land roles in British TV and theater, but she wasn’t equipped to handle the crippling depression that hit her at the age of 20.

Wright is one of a new breed of actresses who, perhaps inspired by the outspokenness of another atypical Disney princess—Carrie Fisher—isn’t afraid to talk about once-taboo subjects like mental health. “I was in the dark going through so many bad things, when the world didn’t know about Shuri and Letitia and whatever is happening now,” she says. And she’s equally unafraid to talk about what pulled her out.

Wright demonstrates high-tech Wakandan weaponry in Black Panther. Courtesy of Marvel. Wright as the mysterious Nish in the Black Mirror episode “Black Museum.” Courtesy of Netflix.

As the rare young star whose social-media messages are bursting with praise for a God she credits for her success, Wright says she’s not “going to hide” her religious beliefs from the world. “Everybody has their thing that they’re truthful about. My thing is just a love of God . . . so that’s what I’m going to do.” When asked how she prepares for any given scene, be it comedy or tragedy, Wright simply says, “I pray.”

Wright came to Christianity after attending a London actors’ Bible study with fellow Identity graduate Malachi Kirby (Roots, Black Mirror) at the height of her depression. Her immersion in her newfound religion was so strong that Wright walked away from a role in a Nicole Kidman-Elle Fanning film, most likely How to Talk to Girls at Parties, in order to focus on her relationship with God. When it came time to tackle her career with newfound commitment in 2015, she ran to it full tilt—and hasn’t stopped since.