Chadwick Boseman has passed away at 43

[mayday2592]

On August 28th 2020, Chadwick Boseman, star of Black Panther has passed away from cancer. The man has truly left behind a legacy and will be missed.

[VO.SUPER]

That is a huge shame. I never knew he had cancer.

My condolences to him and his family.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Marvel made a tribute: 

 

[Wraith]

A celebrity death hasn't affected me this much in quite some time. I'm still stopping and remembering the fact that Chadwick Boseman is really dead all this time later. I didn't exactly cry or shed tears but it's still such an uncomfortable shock that someone that seemed so strong could be cut down so quickly at the height of his career. 

Learning that his illness has been affecting him since he really started to get into the limelight re-frames everything he released. Chadwick took on exclusively demanding roles depicting a diverse range of the nation's black heroes, real or fictional. Thurgood Marshall. Jackie Robinson. James Brown. King T'challa.  There was an enormous amount  of weight on his shoulders with each project, and he navigated all those different personalities and contexts with ease while battling cancer. 

I've been reading a lot of interviews, listening to a lot of his speeches, and rewatching a lot of his movies in the past couple of days. It was obvious to anyone he was an exemplary talent, even if you only know him for his Marvel stuff, but learning of his illness frames all the extra time he invested into his work in a new light. Going out of his way to uplift talented young black people and help children with the same illness as him cope. No one could really ask anything of someone dealing with such a terrible illness, but Chadwick gave the world his all. 

I just finished Da Five Bloods last night and can confirm Chadwick's run of movies is legendary, but Black Panther is always going to mean the most to me as a superhero and fantasy fan. We've had black superheroes, but Hollywood never conveyed us in leading roles with such sincerity. We never had our culture and our artists represented in such a mass marketed way before. It might seem tempting to call it just another pawn on Disney's chessboard but I suggest reading this statement from Ryan Coogler that shows just how much the movie meant to the people who worked on it, regardless of what Disney's intentions with the project were. Chadwick in particular was involved in most aspects of production from day 1, which isn't common for someone in the already taxing position of leading man. He advocated for the cast to use authentic African accents. He was there for the casting of most of the characters to make sure their chemistry with T'challa was authentic. He pushed for several unique visuals like the dancers during the coronation scene that are burned into my mind to this day. 

Even down to the script writing level he was responsible for shifting the creatives toward the film's most iconic line.

Quote

 In early drafts of the script. Eric Killmonger’s character would ask T’Challa to be buried in Wakanda. Chad challenged that and asked, what if Killmonger asked to be buried somewhere else? 

It did surprise me to learn that Black Panther was as much Chadwick as it was Coogler, but it really shouldn't have. 

There are still movies that have yet to release that have Chadwick in them but it was sort of hauntingly fitting that his role in Da 5 Bloods depicts a long dead soldier that moved his comrades so deeply that he inspired them for decades to come. So genuine, convicted and empathetic that he becomes immortal.  As sad as it is that he's gone, I'm also looking forward to seeing what we do with what he's given us in terms of opportunity and inspiration. 

I'll leave you with this interview where he talks about two children he met who had cancer. The hollywood machine can often make me feel cynical, but Chadwick was genuine. I'll always cherish what he gave us.