New Rumor Alleges Upcoming 'Marvel's Black Panther' Video Game Allows Players To "Choose The Next Black Panther"
A new rumor revealed a number of details about Cliffhanger Games’ upcoming Marvel’s Black Panther game including the option for players to “choose the next Black Panther.”
X user TheGhostofHope shared alleged details for the game. Noting, “You choose the next Black Panther” and that the game will feature a number of characters including T’Challa, M’Baku, Azari, Shuri, Killmonger, and others.
He also adds the game “intends to replicate authentic African Martial Arts mixed with Superhuman strength/agility + tech.” It will also supposedly feature “weapons, armor & gadgets [that] are unique to each Black Panther.”
Players will be able to explore a number of different regions including cities, savannahs and others that will reportedly feature “unique cultures + characters.”
Finally, the game’s “story reacts to your choices & actions with unique stories, missions & dynamics.”
The game was originally announced back in July 2023 with a blog post on Marvel.com stating, “As we celebrate the 57th anniversary of Black Panther’s comic debut this July, we’re thrilled to announce Cliffhanger Games, a new triple-A development studio based in Seattle, is working on an original, third-person, single-player Black Panther game in collaboration with Marvel Games.”
The blog post added, “Their mission is to build an expansive and reactive world that empowers players to experience what it is like to take on the mantle of Wakanda’s protector, the Black Panther.”
Kevin Stephens the head of Cliffhanger said, “It’s an incredibly rare opportunity to build a new team around the values of diversity, collaboration, and empowerment.”
“We want our game to enable players to feel what it’s like to be worthy of the Black Panther mantle in unique, story-driven ways, and we want Cliffhanger Games to empower everyone on our team as we collaborate to bring this amazing world to life,” he added.
He also shared, “We’re dedicated to delivering fans a definitive and authentic Black Panther experience, giving them more agency and control over their narrative than they have ever experienced in a story-driven video game. Wakanda is a rich Super Hero sandbox, and our mission is to develop an epic world for players who love Black Panther and want to explore the world of Wakanda as much as we do.”
The game and Cliffhanger Games already found itself in the middle of controversy when it hired admitted racist Dani Lalonders back in 2023. In March 2024, Lalonders, who was an Associate Narrative Designer on the game, was brought to public attention when she described gamers as “racists.”
She wrote on X, “gamers have been really racist lately and im trying to ignore it buts its hard not to :^( when i see it sometimes”
Lalonders added, “just creating problems in your head. i dont understand the outrage over video games. especially games they have no interest to play.”
In another series of posts on March 7th, Lalonders wrote, “i just stopped taking yall seriously when yall start running around saying white people can experience racism because i did not suffer through 2020 for yall to act like you werent an ally to blm 4 years later.”
“posting that tired a** screenshot of the google definition of racism. i just dont care anymore,” Lalonders concluded.
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Lalonders would later admit to being a racist in a response to Rileyman1080, who wrote, “Hahaha so being appropriately called racist is tiresome, huh? You could try not being racist.”
Lalonders responded, “Yeah im racist so what now?”
Lalonders later stated that if you believe you can be racist towards white people that makes you racist.
Lalonders wrote, “if you think you can be racist to white people, you literally are.”
“Racism and prejudice are not the same thing. racism is systematic,” Lalonders explained. “white people are not systematically affected negatively by racism. certain groups of white people throughout history have been affected by prejudice based on where theyre from.”
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It was later uncovered that she admitted to hiring people based on their race during a Game Devs of Color Expo 2021 presentation.
She said, “ValiDate has a team of all people of color. We have no white people on our team. I did that because I wanted to create a safe environment. And I know the best way for the environment to be safe is to be around people who are just like me.”
“And I’m not saying that white people in the industry are creating unsafe environments. I’m not saying that. That is not what I’m saying,” she said. “I’m saying sometimes it is hard to work with white people because they think that something may be okay, but it was really a microaggression, and no one wants to deal with that while you’re trying to make a game that they love.”
According to Lalonders’ LinkedIn profile she stopped working at Cliffhanger Games in May 2024.
What do you make of these new alleged details about Marvel’s Black Panther?
I choose Ryan Gosling.