by Joshua H. Stulman

This past week, Chadwick Boseman, the actor that played Black Panther died of colon cancer at the age of 43. For mostly everyone, this came at a great shock because the actor chose to keep his illness a secret for many years while he sought treatment between filming various movies.

While the actor’s career was short, he won praise for his portrayal of historical figures like Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall and James Brown. His most successful role, of course, is as Marvel’s first black super-hero, The Black Panther, in which he portrayed the character for four Marvel movies including starring in the eponymously titled film.

The 1.3 billion dollar success of Black Panther, skyrocketed the character beyond pop culture relevance to cultural phenomenon. The nature of which was recognized by political groups, like the NAACP that awarded Boseman their Image Award.

But through all the sadness and shock, its important to remember that the Black Panther still lives!

The comic book character is still alive and well in Marvel comics and so far the same goes for Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. In comics, Black Panther has recently been on a long intergalactic journey to re-establish Wakanda as well as helping to restore order amidst the defeat of Supreme Hydra, Steve Rogers! (Yes, Marvel made Captain America evil).

Most people are more familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (the MCU), and with Black Panther II scheduled for 2022, there is alot of speculation of what the future holds for the film version of the character.

In today’s world of celebrity defining roles, it is unlikely that Disney will simply re-cast the role of Black Panther. However, this is absolutely what should happen! Actors are actors because of their ability to breathe life to a character and to fill a role. There is no reason a fictional character should cease because of an actor’s death or even budget reasons (like an actor demanding too much for a film’s budget). There have been many actors to play Superman, Batman and James Bond and there is no reason to “reboot” a storyline because of this. Artistic teams change all the time in comics sometimes from issue to issue without the main story being re-booted and the movies should follow the same precedent.

However, a more realistic vision forward for the cinematic version of Black Panther, is to transition the mantle of the character to another, most likely his sister Shuri, played by actress Letitia Wright. While the comic version of Shuri debuted in Black Panther # 2 from 2005, the movie version of the character was featured in Black Panther and continued in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. In comics, Shuri adopts the mantle of the Black Panther for some time. In the MCU, Shuri’s personality has already been developed. She is shown to be independent, resourceful, gifted in science and part of the royal lineage. All of these aspects would make for a suitable replacement as Black Panther.

I imagine the reason Shuri was emphasized in the Marvel movies, was as a fail-safe plan to naturally abridge the Black Panther story should Chadwick Boseman succumb to his illness before finishing filming. And just the same, I am sure the there are extra scenes shot as back-up to help fill the story gap in case of emergency. This practice is similar to what J.J. Abrams did with Carrie Fisher’s Princess Leia during The Force Awakens that saw intercut in the posthumous filming of Rise of Skywalker.

Whatever, Disney has in store for Black Panther II, we can be certain that Chadwick Boseman has achieved what most actors are rarely able to reach – a character defining performance that will forever be the measure. Because of Chadwick Boseman, the Black Panther has taken his place amongst comic book characters greatest heroes and has restored Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s vision to enduring greatness.

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Joshua H. Stulman

Owner, Brooklyn Comic Shop