According to Marvel.com (and an article in the Washington Post), Marvel is introducing a brand-new female Black Panther.



Reginald Hudlin is still writing the book.

I think that what we have here is a clever way of Marvel ending the Black Panther/Storm marriage. If T'Challa is killed and replaced by a female Black Panther, then you have Storm now free and clear of the marriage without a divorce, and you still have a Black Panther. And, to boot, you get a FEMALE Black Panther, which is an interesting twist (and, of course, you can always bring T'Challa back in the future, only now he can't be married to Storm for some reason - maybe it's T'Challa from the past or whatever).

However, the only way this works is if the new Black Panther is NOT Storm. If it IS Storm, then while that's certainly a clever enough idea, I don't think that really does anything for Storm. If it is T'Challa's sister (introduced by Hudlin, no less), then it is a very clever idea by Marvel.

Can't wait 'til we find out which one it is.