Denzel Washington is jumping into more franchises these days. He would complete his trilogy of Equalizer films, which would feature the first sequels of his career and he will be starring in the upcoming Gladiator II, which is being hyped up as a grand-scale action epic. In his review of the film, our Chris Bumbray said, “Washington, playing a rare villain, seems like he’s having the time of his life as the constantly scheming former slave. Yet, Washington never makes him a cartoon character, with him kind of the other side of the coin compared to Richard Harris’s Marcus Areulius in the first film, with the two sharing a vision for a new Rome, even if the latter’s is more apocalyptic.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, Washington casually dropped that he is also planning to join the MCU for Black Panther 3.
While doing press for Gladiator II, Washington told the Today Show in Australia that “at this point in my career, I’m only interested in working with the best, I don’t know how many more films I will make, probably not that many. I want to do things that I haven’t done.” He, then, continued to mention the projects he has on his waiting list, including returning to the theatre for Othello, “I played Othello at 22, I’m now going to play it at 70. After that, I’m playing Hannibal. After that, I’ve been talking with Steve McQueen about a film. After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther.“
Marvel has not yet confirmed when they will move forward with the third film in the Black Panther series, and according to Denzel, that movie comes after three other projects. MCU head Kevin Feige hadn’t revealed anything about that film, but recently teased that Blade is still being worked on at Marvel Studios as he explained, “We love the character, we love Mahershala’s version of him. And rest assured: whenever we change direction with a project, or are still trying to figure out how it fits into our schedule, we let the public know. You’re up to date on what’s going on. But I can tell you that the character will be coming to the MCU.”