Black Panther: Angela Bassett to play T'Challa's mother in Marvel solo film

She'll join the likes of Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, Michael B. Jordan, and Forest Whitaker

(Getty Images)

OK, Marvel; now you're really spoiling us.

Deadline announced Angela Bassett has joined the cast of the Black Panther solo film; playing Ramonda, the mother of T'Challa AKA Black Panther. In the comics, the character is actually T'Challa's stepmother, with his actual mother dying during his birth; so it looks like this will be a departure from the comics, likely just for narrative simplicity.

The Oscar-nominated actress has recently been devoting much of her time to Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story series, though she also made her directorial debut last year with Lifetime's Whitney Houston biopic Whitney.

She joins the film's immensely talented cast: with Chadwick Boseman returning as the titular hero, alongside Michael B. Jordan's villain Erik Killmonger. Forest Whitaker will play elder statesman Zuri, while Lupita Nyong'o will play Nakia - a member of the Black Panther's bodyguard Dora Milaje and a possible love interest for the hero. Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Winston Duke, and Florence Kasumba also star.

We so far know the film won't be an origin story, considering the character's beginnings were largely covered by Captain America: Civil War and the film will be a direct continuation in many ways; helping to move the MCU at large forward.

Boseman has clarified the tone will depart slightly from the humour-heavy latest entries into the MCU; revealing Black Panther will certainly be, "grittier than in Ant-Man".

Black Panther arrives 6 July 2018.