Rumor confirmed. Multi-award-winning singer and global icon Rihanna will provide a single alongside the upcoming Marvel sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. The news was confirmed courtesy of Marvel Studios, who have shared a short clip to social media showing the movie’s title, which makes way for the letter “R” and a release date of “10.28.22.”

Rihanna is one of the biggest music artists of all time, with sales of over 250 million records worldwide. Over the years, Rihanna has been showered with accolades, including nine Grammy Awards, 13 American Music Awards, 12 Billboard Music Awards, six Guinness World Records, and the NAACP’s President’s Award, and is considered one of the most influential celebrities in the world.

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The single, released alongside Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, will mark Rihanna’s first new music in six years since her Grammy-nominated album Anti back in 2016. Considering the artist’s various business endeavors, many had wondered if she would ever return to music. Which should make the release of the single this Friday a hugely popular one.

The original rumor of Rihanna’s involvement with the MCU outing came via The New York Times writer Kyle Buchanan, who went on to state that “If nothing else, this adds a significant new Oscar contender to an original-song race.” While Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige did recently say that the studio and the filmmakers are not thinking about awards (“Ryan and the entire team approached this movie just like they approached the first one, which is: how do we make the best experience possible for the audience?”) it could mean that much like its predecessor, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever finds itself among the Academy Award nominees.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Will Land in Theaters in November

     Marvel Studios

Directed by Ryan Coogler, who has co-written the screenplay with Joe Robert Cole, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever stars Letitia Wright as Shuri, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Florence Kasumba as Ayo, Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams aka Ironheart, Michaela Coel as Aneka, Tenoch Huerta as Namor, Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross, and Angela Bassett as Ramonda. Additionally, the rest of the supporting cast will include Isaach de Bankolé, Dorothy Steel, Danny Sapani, Mabel Cadena, Alex Livinalli, Kamaru Usman, and Richard Schiff.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is scheduled to be released in the United States on November 11, 2022, as the final film in Phase Four of the MCU.