Wait, is Ryan Gosling really being considered as the MCU’s new Black Panther?

In the multiverse anything is possible right? We’ve seen countless variants of heroes in the MCU over the last few years, sometimes we even get little nods to fan castings like John Krasinski in Multiverse of Madness. Well one fan casting involving Ryan Gosling might be deemed too controversial for the MCU, but is it actually being considered?

We’re talking about the Gosling – Black Panther casting of course. A fan casting which has been a bit of a meme for a while now. But now rumors are circulating about a new Black Panther and some think that The Fall Guy star could be in the running to play the Protector of Wakanda from another universe. 

So is there any truth to this whatsoever? And why has this rumor resurfaced now? Well to answer both of those questions we’re going to have to do a deep dive on the original meme as well as look at what’s going on in the Marvel Comics right now.

The original of the Ryan Gosling fan cast

The meme featuring Gosling as Black Panther has been around for a number of years now. An image with Gosling’s face photoshopped over Chadwick Boseman’s first appeared online in 2018 and subsequently became popular in the early 2020’s. The picture often features in discussions about race-swapping characters in movies.

In December 2023 it was reported that Gosling was in talks to play a character in the MCU which prompted a return of the meme. Many jokingly speculated we were really going to see Gosling take on the role, at least I hope these people were joking.

Why are people talking about this casting again?

Recently the speculation surrounding Gosling and the MCU has started up again. Numerous outlets seem to be reporting on the rumor that the Drive star could potentially be a multiversal Black Panther variant. The reason for this particular fan casting being the subject of conversation once again is thanks to a recent Marvel Comics story.

According to Superherohype.com, Marvel Comics recently revealed the new Black Panther, a man by the name of Ketema. Marvel Knights: The World To Come #1 saw Ketema unmask himself and reveal to all that he is a white man with blonde hair, sound familiar? The revelation saw some backlash and naturally people instantly drew a connection to Ketema and the Gosling meme.

So now that white Black Panther is technically canon, all those controversial memes depicting Gosling as the King of Wakanda suddenly seem a bit more plausible. On X people responded to the news with a mixture of amusement and puzzlement. 

Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s likely to happen really. The people in charge of the MCU nowadays have made plenty of awful decisions over the years, but I don’t think even they would be foolish enough to go anywhere near this casting choice.