Letitia Wright’s Black Panther character, Shuri, has been confirmed for Avengers: Infinity War, and I can’t wait to watch her, Tony Stark, and Bruce Banner become SCIENCE FRIENDS FOREVER. (Also, Stark is going to be super jealous of all her vibranium knowledge and inventions, and I can’t wait for that scene, either!)

IMDB first posted the news as a casting update – but given the fact that random users can edit IMDB listings, fans were initially skeptical.

Luckily, Letitita Wright herself soon confirmed that the casting announcement was true.

Blessings 🙏🏾💕 super excited to be apart of this. https://t.co/YXhApFndWV — Letitia Wright (@letitiawright) August 25, 2017

Other Black Panther characters have already been confirmed for the film. Danai Gurira’s Okoye, Winston Duke’s M’Baku, and Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa will also appear in Infinity War.

Shuri’s engineering and innovation are clearly a huge part of her character, based on what the cast have been saying as they promote the film, and I’m so curious to see what sort of inventions she’ll contribute to the fight against Thanos (aside, of course, from her amazing panther gauntlets.)

In the below interview with Jamie Broadnax of Black Girl Nerds, Wright emphasizes how Shuri sees technology as her way to lead.

“She’s just someone who’s very innovative, very open-minded, and wants to help push her country Wakanda forward by using technology,” said Wright, “by working with vibranium in a way that can be able to protect them, and create weaponry – and also just to create devices that have never been seen before. So she plays a really dope, amazing role in the film.”

When asked how Shuri, as a member of the Wakandan royal family, demonstrates leadership in Black Panther, Wright again returned to technology. “Shuri’s place of leadership right now is in terms of technology, creating things that can be able to help her brother when he goes out onto his missions, and helping to protect the border of her country. So that’s a great place to be a leader – to train, and know what you’re doing…I love that that’s the place that Shuri’s at.”

At this point, there are so many characters in Infinity War that it’s getting comics-level ridiculous, so the critic in me can smell a potential screenplay problem. (How is anyone going to have a discernible arc?) But the fangirl in me…she can’t stop being excited.

Black Panther hits theaters on February 16, 2018, and Avengers: Infinity War arrives on May 4, 2018.

(Via CBR and Black Girl Nerds; image via Entertainment Weekly and Kwaku Alston/Marvel Studios)

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