Everyone’s mourning the tragic loss of the Black Panther actor, Chadwick Boseman. We shouldn’t think about the next Black Panther movie just yet, but the sudden loss of the actor has really brought up a few questions. The Hollywood Reporter has come up with a detailed report solving a few queries that the fans may have had about the late actor. In this report, we get to know about Marvel’s stance upon dealing with the loss of one of their leading men.
People have been wondering whether anyone at Marvel knew about the 4+ years of battle that Boseman had fought with colon cancer. THR states:
“On Aug. 28, Marvel chief creative officer Kevin Feige received an urgent email regarding Chadwick Boseman, with no further information. Unbeknownst to anyone at the studio, the Black Panther star had been battling colon cancer privately for four-plus years and had taken a sudden turn for the worse. By the time Feige read the message an hour later, Boseman already had died, sending shock waves through Disney and the tight-knit Marvel Cinematic Universe.”
So clearly Feige & co didn’t know. In fact, outside of Boseman’s family, only a few people knew about it, and none of them really had an idea about how severe his condition really was. The list of non-family members who knew are:
– Producing partner Logan Coles
– Chadwick’s agent Michael Greene
– His trainer Addison Henderson
– 42 director Brian Helgeland
It was Boseman’s wish to keep his condition private. In fact, he thought that the situation wouldn’t have gotten so out of hand. A week before his demise, he actually thought that he was going to beat cancer and even regain his lost weight in order to appear in Black Panther 2. Marvel was planning for Black Panther 2 to go under production by March 2021. So, he planned to get ready for that, and he was even ready to shoot another film (Yasuke) this year. His death was just very sudden, tragic & unlucky.
If you’re wondering that how exactly did he keep his condition a secret as it should have come up some time during the filming of any of the 4 big budget MCU films that he starred in. For that case, film finance attorney Schuyler Moore has stated that a Marvel actor would not require any medical examination for studio insurance purposes. He said:
“Big studios don’t often [get] completion bonds. They are more prevalent in the indie filmmaking world. Sometimes, the big studios will look to insure for a particular actor, but they usually have a particular reason for doing so. Otherwise, studios will just shoulder the risk [of sickness or death].”
As of now, Disney & Marvel are grieving over the actor’s demise & their priority is to support the Boseman family. No one is thinking about Black Panther 2, and that’s what it should be. But still, they’ll have to make a call upon how they need to deal with the Black Panther situation. After all, they did create a Billion Dollar franchise with Chadwick Boseman, and director Coogler would probably be at least halfway through his story (if he hasn’t finished it already).
In our minds, we really don’t want a new actor to replace Chadwick Boseman. Instead, the idea of Shuri being transitioned into the new Black Panther has come up. Recasting the late actor could lead to a major fan outcry as people are going to draw comparisons no matter who gets picked. But, Marvel may not have another choice unless they are planning to delay the film & rework the story to make it fitting for Shuri to be the new Black Panther. If that will be the case, then Marvel could have Shuri’s Black Panther appearing in all the interconnected crossover films that they had originally planned for T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) to be in.
Let’s wait and see how Marvel handles the situation in the future. In the last decade, Studios have handled these sudden death situations well enough. We trust Marvel to be fair & do the same when the time comes. But now is not the time for it. Right now is the time to just show our support to the family of the fallen idol.
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