'Captain America: Civil War' Rumor: How Black Panther Fits In

So far, the lineup for Captain America: Civil War makes the film seem more like Avengers 2.5 than another installment in the Cap franchise — not that that’s a bad thing. The film features Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Falcon and so many more, including Chadwick Boseman, who will make his first big screen appearance as Black Panther. But how exactly does Marvel’s new hero fit into the upcoming battle between Cap and Iron Man? We might know. Kind of.

Umberto Gonzalez posted the following to his Instagram account. It’s not much, but it hints at something:

At the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson (aka Falcon) were setting out to search for Bucky Barnes, aka Winter Soldier. As you’ll recall from the end credits tag, Bucky had disguised himself and was visiting a museum, looking upon Cap’s accomplishments. Sebastian Stan recently teased a photo of himself in the same get-up, baseball cap and all, seemingly hinting that Civil War picks up right where The Winter Soldier left off — or at least part of it does.

So how does Black Panther fit into all of this? Well, Steve and Sam are still looking for him, so they may very well combine forces with their newest hero pal to find Bucky — but why does Black Panther need to find Bucky? In the comics, Black Panther’s father, King T’Chaka, was killed by Ulysses Klaw (Andy Serkis’ character in Avengers: Age of Ultron). This could still be the case, and Bucky could have helped make that happen. Or, perhaps in the MCU, it’s Bucky who kills King T’Chaka.

As Geek Tyrant suggests, this is plausible, since Bucky spent many decades as a killing machine after his transformation into the Winter Soldier. I imagine he left a lot of dead bodies, and a lot of people who might want revenge.

Captain America: Civil War arrives on May 6, 2016.