It didn’t take long for both the film’s production and the audiences who embraced the original with such enthusiasm to wonder what the fate of this individual franchise and its central character. The cancellation was ruled out since the African country, so brave and technologically advanced, would continue to play a decisive role in the central plot. The dilemma was left in two options: the recast of T’Challa or the search for a way to justify the absence of the actor and his hero in order to inherit the mantle of the panther to someone else. In the end and out of respect, the studio opted for the latter option.
“It seemed like it was too early to do a recast,” assured at the time the president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige. Faced with the controversy raised among those who think that history is above everything, even personal tragedy, the executive can only remember the words of whoever was the heart and soul of the publishing house. “Stan Lee always said that Marvel represents the world outside your window. And we had talked about how, as extraordinary and fantastic as our characters and stories are, there is a human and relatable element in everything we do. The world is still processing the loss of Chad. and ryan [Coogler] poured that into history.”
What could be, what is and what could be
It is a fact that the death of Chadwick Boseman implied important changes in the script of Black Panther: Wakanda forever, which will be fully manifested in the rest of the franchise. But as ironic as it may seem, the essence of the film was always the same: the pain, the loss and the importance of moving on. Only in this case, due to the consequences of Thanos’ snap seen in Avengers: Infinity War and reversed in Avengers: Endgame.
“The tone was going to be similar [al de Wakanda por siempre]”, explained Coogler. “The character was going to be mourning the loss of time, coming back after being away for five years. He was a man with a lot of responsibility for many who returns after a forced absence of five years, that’s what the film addresses. He was suffering a time that he could not recover. The pain was a big part of it.”
To make the step into the future, Marvel emulated the formulas that it has used so recurrently in recent years to find a successor for the Wakandan warrior. The public considered all kinds of names, including the fierce M’Baku (Winston Duke) and the late Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), but the study was always clear, the new panther had to be a woman. Something logical if we consider the enormous feminine force exhibited in this particular universe. Of all the candidates, there were two options that always stood out: Shuri (Letitia Wright) and Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o).
The first seemed to start with an advantage for being the younger sister of T’Challa and therefore, the next in the successor line, but also for his bravery on the battlefield and his intellect comparable to that of the greatest geniuses in the franchise. On the possibility of taking the place of Chadwick Boseman, the actress assures that “that is a difficult question to answer. I had a talk about it with Ryan [Coogler] and Chad when we were doing Black Panther, and we briefly mentioned it. When I realized that he was playing Shuri, it was something that I really looked forward to.”
The second, for her part, prefers to keep her distance by assuring that the death of her partner “affected the way I move in the world. But that’s the thing with Chadwick. Chadwick wasn’t trying to make everyone like him. What he inspired was to be the best of yourself. So, I don’t see myself close to leading a set, I’m not that person. I’m not Chadwick at all. I never will be.”
Finally, there are those who applaud the respect shown to Boseman, but are also aware that the direction of the franchise could eventually call for a recast. Such is the case of Winston Duke, who, although he assures that Black Panther: Wakanda forever represented an opportunity to say goodbye to his partner and friend after his abrupt death, believes that incorporating the panther into the upcoming multiversal variants will be another great way to pay homage to the actor and his character.
“For this iteration of Black Panther, it’s very difficult for me to comment on something like that because I think this is Chadwick’s role. […]. So I feel that, as it is, and the decision that was made to keep Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa has a lot of nobility”, he assured prior to the premiere of the sequel, to later complement that “there is a level of confidence that we should all having in a comic book world that has multiple dimensions and parallel dimensions and multiple stories and possible futures and possible reimaginings in the past, and multiple universes that they’re actually experimenting with. So I feel like my level of confidence is that the medium can support a diversity of interpretations that can actually make us all happy.”
Another complex decision. It would not be the first time that T’Challa is approached by the marvelite multiverse, remembering that the actor already gave voice to a variant of Star-Lord in the animated series What If…?, a collaboration that came to light shortly after the departure from him. More painful for some would be to see another actor in the role of T’Challa and carrying the mantle of Black Panther, even if it was a multiversal version. Will Marvel take up the challenge? Only time will tell.
It is early to say if the decisions made by Marvel were the right ones, but at the moment they seem the most successful. Chadwick Boseman is gone, but his Black Panther lives forever. In the hearts of the fans who made the hero one of the most beloved characters in contemporary cinema and in the work of his companions who will do everything possible to expand his legacy.