1) Politics. Its a controversial reason, but let's face it, the only significant black members of the MCU are Nick Fury, who was white in the original comics and was changed, and War Machine, who's basically a sidekick to Iron Man. A large portion of this blog is about equalizing the gender demographic, but this is something that needs to be discussed as well. Luke Cage is another great hero to use, and Falcon is coming up, but those are still American blacks, and Black Panther is a true African. This would help with my next point as well...
2) Expanding the Marvel Universe - geographically and otherwise. In a word: Wakanda. The fictional African country home to Black Panther and a little fictional element called Vibranium. Excluding the Savage Land, which is unlikely to show up in the MCU anytime soon, Wakanda is the only source of Vibranium for all concerned. It's already been mentioned in CA:TFA, and Wakanda has been referenced in IM2, its time to dive into this plot point head on. Is there a relationship between Vibranium and the mysterious element Tony created in IM2? Is there any Adamantium involved in this story? Vibranium could potentially be vital to the fight against Thanos that is inevitable after his appearance in The Avengers. So let's get there.
3) More characters is always a good thing. I've mentioned this before with other heroes on this blog, but it's simple. The MCU is unique. It's not like a normal superhero film/franchise that can get easily bloated with too many characters -- it's built on characters. And rather than stuffing in more and more characters to one plotline, they can use new characters to introduce new plot lines to continue the story in other ways (Vibranium). More members also means multiple teams, another thing I've mentioned before. But another side affect would be actually helping to solve the dilemma that The Avengers created
The Avengers created a group of heroes that came together, starting as reluctant allies and ending up as friends. The problem with that is that now every MCU movie will have to explain why another hero isn't in it, why they can't just call up another Avenger. But if you think about it, if you add enough heroes to the roster, that safety net isn't the same. Because right now its thought of as "The Avengers" and you can just send out a distress signal and get help. But if you add more, it breaks down to a more individual level rather than a team effort, and you have to bring in the task of trying to keep tabs on all of them, each hero having their own problems, mini-team ups (Guardians of the Galaxy), and geographical issues (Wakanda, Asgard). It's a lot easier to say "why didn't they call the Avengers" than "why didn't he know exactly how to contact Hulk, Thor, Falcon, Cap, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Vision, Namor, Dr. Strange, Iron Man, War Machine, Drax the Destroyer, or Henry Pym at any time he needed to and have them conveniently available and free of their own messes to come help him."
It makes sense in kind of a weird way. But the less personal the team is, the less likely it is that one would simply call another for help. Also, if there's only three people to call, that person might be like "oh, well if I'm your only hope..." whereas if there are 20, they would likely be like "I'm busy call someone else!"
4) More crossover potential with FOX. Black Panther and Storm meet as children, fall in love over the years, and eventually get married. That could lead to more semi-partnerships between studios which would overall be a good thing. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out this post on Scarlet Witch or this post on Ms. Marvel to get some background info.
5) He's unique. One thing that keeps the MCU working well is that each character is unique. With the exception of War Machine, who's just an extension of Iron Man (though the two are unique in their personalities), everybody is unique. The Knight, the Monster, the Archer, the Spy, the Thunder god, and the Soldier. The Panther would be another unique set of powers to throw in there....night vision, enhanced senses, vibranium-ness, and being a King.
6) There's material for it. He's not some random character that would have to be stuffed and fluffed to seem interesting. He's got a whole country of stories to go off of! And having the split between protecting Wakanda and protecting the Earth (echoing Thor's situation) gives plenty of material. Just like the Thor films focus mostly on Asgard (the sequel will be exploring more realms) the Black Panther film(s) could focus primarily on Wakanda, with enough connective tissue to the rest of the universe to maintain continuity.
7) He's going to come around eventually anyway. Why not make it sooner rather than later?
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