When Marvel's Avengers does finally launch the Black Panther DLC, the game could see a lot of changes and new content. The fact of the matter is, not much is known of what is coming with the package officially titled War for Wakanda. However, that very title may hint at a rather seismic shift in the kind of content that is available in the Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics title. This expansion is going to be quite a bit bigger than any extra content that came before it. There are some details that can be gleaned from the trailer and the title, along with speculation, as the developers haven't shared a ton of specifics just yet.
Marvel's Avengers developers have kept details under their hats, for the most part, when it comes to exactly what to expect with additional content. The same can certainly be said for what the upcoming Black Panther DLC is going to include. It does help to understand that the game is leaning more on the comics, rather than the MCU, when it comes to story beats. There's certainly quite a bit of content that can be pulled from the Black Panther comics.
Wakanda Forever
While the War for Wakanda trailer didn't divulge a ton of info, there is at least one thing we can pull from the video. It appears that there is going to be a whole new map and set of locations when this Marvel's Avengers DLC drops. For now, the game basically takes place in three different biomes. There are city locations, a desert-like area and then a more wooded area.
The trailer for the Black Panther DLC hints quite explicitly that Wakanda itself will be joining the game. Whether this will be a permanent addition, or something like Tony Stark's mansion that will only be accessible in very specific missions, isn't known yet. There's certainly a possibility that this could be a place where ongoing missions and loot drops could take place.
It makes some sense that if this is a larger expansion, as opposed to the addition of a new character like it was with Hawkeye, that War for Wakanda could bring quite a bit with it. That's not to say that Hawkeye's content was sparse by any stretch, but the way the Black Panther DLC has been presented so far, it feels like this is going to be comparatively more substantive. The name of the package alone seems to be hinting at something that could be far greater.
The Big Bads
If the Hawkeye DLC for Marvel's Avengers is any indication, the Black Panther DLC will be bringing at least one villain along with it. The question of course, is which "Big Bad" might be on the way? There are two historical enemies of T'Challa that would be welcome additions to this game.
The first is someone who was more of an adversary than an actual enemy in the MCU, but definitely counts as a "Big Bad" in most of the comic book storylines. M'Baku is known as the Man-Ape in most of the books and he's the kind of gorilla-like alternative to the Black Panther. In the movie, he does indeed challenge T'Challa for the title of the ruler of their shared homeland. The title, "War for Wakanda," could indeed mean a war over who will be king. It isn't hard to imagine the final boss fight being a similar showdown as what viewers saw in the movie.
The other villain that could make an appearance in this DLC is a much-beloved villain that hasn't been mentioned in Marvel's Avengers yet. Klaw has long been one of the more dangerous enemies of Black Panther. He is in fact, so well-liked that Marvel fans got quite excited when he was introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron. It made some sense that he would play a big part in any Black Panther film because of his history with Wakanda. Specifically, he stole the very special metal, vibranium from the African country.
In the comics, Klaw eventually gets turned into a being of pure sound and can shoot soundwaves from a weapon that was once a gun and then became a part of him. In the movies, he's killed off by one of his partners in crime. It stands to reason that Marvel's Avengers could stick closer to the comic book version and have him appear as the super-powered villain rather than the gadget-happy enemy that appeared in the films.
Shuri And Her Lab
Along with the apparent arrival of a Wakanda map, there seems to be a very good opportunity to introduce another NPC with a scientific background. Hank Pym has been in the game since the beginning, but has mostly been a background character who's Ant Hill is a stop in the desert-like biome where players can pick up specific gear and missions. It stands to reason that when Ant-Man is eventually added to Marvel's Avengers that his NPC version will take a backseat. That could open the door for T'Challa's sister, Shuri, and her rather impressive laboratory in Wakanda.
The character has been in the comics before, but she was put front and center in the Black Panther movie as someone who actually gave her brother his battle suits. As Marvel's Avengers is very skin and equipment-centric it just makes entirely too much sense to have her in the game in order to be the person who helps upgrade the Black Panther character. There's also the argument that some of the other characters that are rumored to be on the way in the future have at least a tangential tie to Wakanda, such as The Winter Soldier. That means Shuri and her lab could make continuous appearances in other DLC, much in the same fashion as Hank Pym, to date.
Marvel's Avengers is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
