Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige addresses Killmonger's rumored return in Black Panther 2

"We can still heal you ..."

Michael B. Jordan's Erik Killmonger may have rejected T'Challa's offer of salvation in the final moments of Black Panther, but rumors of the charismatic villain's return gained heat thanks to a candid moment on the red carpet involving co-star Angela Bassett back in January. Now Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has weighed in on the possibility of Killmonger making his triumphant return in the sequel.

Earlier this year, Bassett, who played T'Challa's mother, Queen Ramonda, fielded a question from ET.com at the Screen Actors Guild Awards as to whether the whole cast would return for Black Panther 2. "I would assume so," she said, before her husband, the actor Courtney B. Vance, escalated her statement by adding, "Yes, just go ahead and say it, yes! Everyone will be there, including Michael B."

But Feige, the head of Marvel Studios and a man who should know, says that Killmonger's return is "pure rumor."

Speaking with BET, Feige did not outright deny the possibility of Jordan reprising the role, only that it would be a leap at this point to say, as Vance had, that "everyone will be there."

"The honest answer ... is that is pure rumor and speculation, because [writer and director Ryan] Coogler is just only in recent weeks sitting down at his keyboard and beginning to outline the movie," Feige said. "It’s early, so nothing is set yet in any way that far."

Black Panther 2 does not yet have a release date, though it is possible — perhaps even likely! — that Marvel Studios will reveal more about the movie and the post-Endgame "Five-Year Plan" later this month at San Diego Comic-Con International. The famed Hall H stage is known for surprising guest appearances, and if Jordan appears alongside Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong'o, and Danai Gurira, it will become impossible to suppress anticipation for the Rise of Killmonger.