With production wrapped on Avengers: Infinity War, we’re starting to learn more about the upcoming Marvel crossover film bringing many superheroes together in the fight against Thanos.

Now we know about one more character to add to the mix: Black Panther’s younger sister Shuri, played by Letitia Wright.

Wright herself confirmed a report from IMDB with a tweet, solidifying her involvement in the movie.

Wright will debut as the character early next year when Black Panther premieres in theaters. She is described as an inventor with a genius intellect on par with Tony Stark’s.

She can be seen briefly in the trailers for the movie, once during an action scene where her character faces off against Michael B. Jordan’s Erik Killmonger. Shuri is wearing a pair of gauntlets shaped like panther heads with the mouths opening at the ends, as if they’re about to fire projectiles.

The extent of Shuri’s roles in Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War are unknown at this point, though she does feature heavily in the comics. She ends up ruling Wakanda and taking the mantle of the Black Panther in one point.

In fact, she is the ruler of the country while her brother T’Challa becomes the Wakandan King of the Dead, protector of the afterlife, when Thanos and the Black Order invade in search of the Infinity Stones during Marvel Comics’ Infinity event. Avengers: Infinity War looks to be partially inspired by that specific storyline.

We’re excited to see Shuri take on a more significant role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially after her increase in prominence in the Black Panther comics over recent years.

Black Panther premieres February 18, 2018.

Avengers: Infinity War premieres May 4, 2018.

As the Avengers and their allies have continued to protect the world from threats too large for any one hero to handle, a new danger has emerged from the cosmic shadows: Thanos. A despot of intergalactic infamy, his goal is to collect all six Infinity Stones, artifacts of unimaginable power, and use them to inflict his twisted will on all of reality. Everything the Avengers have fought for has led up to this moment – the fate of Earth and existence itself has never been more uncertain.

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