What If? Black Widow Actress Lake Bell Reportedly Joins Cast of Black Panther: World of Wakanda

Lake Bell technically joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe earlier this year, voicing Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in the animated Marvel’s What If…? series on Disney+. Now, it looks like the Boston Legal alumnus will soon make her way over to the live-action side of things before the end of 2022. In a batch of paparazzi photos released Saturday night (via Cosmic Circus), Bell can be seen on the set of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever before it temporarily halted production due to Letitia Wright’s ongoing injury.

The snapshots were first shared by the set-tracking paparazzo @atalnta_filming, and you can see them below.

“There are three new cast members, including one deep Marvel reference gender swapped, and a day player,” the photographer writes on the Instagram gallery. “I’ll let you [sic] figure/guess who is who. Also, the last imagine [sic] is black and white to make it harder to guess who is dangling from the helicopter.”

Some are hypothesizing it’s Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) hanging from the helicopter, as the character’s seen wearing sneakers. Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige previously confirmed with ComicBook.com that Williams would make her live-action debut in the highly anticipated sequel.

“We’re shooting Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, right now, and the character of Riri Williams, you will meet in Black Panther 2 first,” Feige said in an interview surrounding the release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. “She started shooting, I think, this week before her Ironheart series.”

The first season of Marvel’s What If…? is now streaming on Disney+, while Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens next November.

Who do you think Bell is playing in Black Panther 2? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here. Note: If you purchase one of the awesome, independently chosen products featured here, we may earn a small commission from the retailer. Thank you for your support.

Cover photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic