Originally published at: We finally have a trailer for Wakanda Forever | Boing Boing
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Since death and rebirth are key parts of the character’s development they could have also split the difference and had T’Challa do the whole “resurrected in a new body” thing, Timelord-style.
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Okay but NAMOR THE SUB-MARINER 
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It’s a really good trailer, balancing as it does on heavy emotions. Shuri’s tears; Angela Bassett’s powerful and passionate monologue; and the music that ties it all together. I think the right choice was to let Chadwick pass the baton to a new Black Panther, not recast the role, and I certainly hope Shuri is the one who picks up the mantle. She’s intelligent, a fighter, we know her already and love her already.
I’m looking forward to this one now very much.
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Or Marvel could realize that these characters are eternal and recasting is inevitable.
Chadwick Boseman spent the last years of his life painstakingly making T’Challa a house hold name equivalent to Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent for Black children everywhere. To me, it’s disrespectful to his legacy for Disney to ignore that. Black kids finally get a Black Superman and Disney kills him because the real actor passed? Imagine if DC killed Superman because George Reeve died.
I can understand Disney being skittish about recasting, but this is the ONE time that EVERYONE would have been cool with it. Plus, since the MCU is a multi-billion dollar money machine, they’re gonna have to recast characters anyway. What we’re going to let Peter Parker die when Tom Hollland sprouts his first grey hair?
I think this movie is a massive error and is indicitive of Marvel’s mismanagement of the MCU in phase 4 and beyond. Recasting didn’t hurt the Bond films any.
Sorry for the rant. I’m not mad at you or anything @Brainspore. This movie just makes me furious. Lol
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i wonder at the term “ill-advised”. i think it was a smarter move to change the narrative as opposed to recasting the role. chadwick boseman was so wonderful that it might be easier for audiences to face the loss, as fans have had to do with the loss of boseman. i have confidence that a director as skilled as ryan coogler can make this work.
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When ever this comes up I feel people aren’t considering that the rest of the team here might not be totally comfortable replacing the guy.
These people worked with Boseman for 3-5 years. And apparently most of them weren’t aware of how sick he was, so his death was as surprising to them as it was to the general public. So right after the shocking death of a friend and colleague, a decision had to be made immediately.
Maybe a recast is the better creative decision. But in those circumstances; I can’t say I’d be all that comfortable watching audition tapes immediately after a funeral, or standing next to somebody else on set.
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I agree.
T’Challa’s last moment in the narrative was coming back from the dead in grand fashion…only to die off screen.
That’s not ill advised. That’s just- - that’s just bad.
Again, wouldn’t it be better to honor his legacy by preserving the character he literally poured the last years of his life into as opposed to saying, “Thanks for the franchise, Chadwick. Now go pound snow.”
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I hear you and completely agree, but one thing that we’re doing here is making massive assumptions about how all this goes down from very little actual information.
History has shown us that Marvel has been consistently tricky with trailers, and I have a lot of faith in Coogler to honor and respect his friends legacy.
On the other hand, they might completely shit the bed, but let’s see the movie before we judge.
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I really don’t think that EVERYONE would have been ok with a recast. A lot of people DO associate Chadwick with T’Challa. It feels disrepectful to him to just recast so quickly and move on.
But the character is part of a long line of Black Panthers. His father was a Black Panther before him and his father before him, etc.
I think it is better to pass the mantle and recognize that what Chadwick created was singular and amazing, while honoring that by keeping his legacy alive.
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So when Christopher Reeves became a quadriplegic we all just said, “well, that’s a wrap on Superman. Pack it in folks,”?
No. And that’s because Superman is an iconic character and Christopher Reeves, as brilliant as he was, only inhabited the role. People still associate Christopher Reeves with Superman today, and that’s fine. But we didn’t jettison Clark Kent into the proverbial Phantom Zone because of that fact. Chadwick put T’Challa on that same level for millions of Black kids.
What about the Black kids that see themselves in T’Challa? They just have to say, “oh, well, this replacement Black Panther that I have ZERO attachment to is just as good.”
It’s a bad idea in the narrative; it’s a bad idea for representation; it’s a bad idea for future MCU projects(no T’Challa and Storm).
It’s just a dumb idea, but, hey, that’s Phase 4 Marvel for ya.
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To be fair, the gap between the last Christopher Reeves film and the next version of Superman was like 20 years, at least for live action films. I don’t think people want to wait that long for more Black Panther/Wakanda action.
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True
Plus Reeves had his accident in 95. Lois and Clark was running since 93.
However, I still believe the character of T’Challa should be recognized as equivalent to Clark Kent. We shouldn’t just discard him like a piece of disposable content because the actor that portrayed him died tragically.
Even Chadwick’s brother wanted to recast the role. His own family asked for Disney to recast and they ignored their wishes out of “respect” for Chadwick. Huh?
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I don’t know as much about the character as others on this thread, but isn’t this a pretty fundamental distinction between these two characters? That Superman was always the specific kid that was sent to Earth in a rocket and raised on a farm by the Kent family, whereas as “The Black Panther” is a title that’s continually getting passed down from one person to another? So giving the title to a new character would seem less like a “well, that franchise is done, let’s pack it in.” kinda move.
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In the MCU canon, T’Challa may be dispoable, but in the Marvel 616 canon of the comics, T’Challa is THE Black Panther.
Imagine how little traction the character would have if they kept switching his alter ego since the 60s.
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I think a recast could have been done respectfully in a way that honors the character’s legacy, but I actually prefer that they’re not recasting him. A new actor playing the same role will forever be imitating Boseman, but they can never be Boseman. If Chadwick had been able to continue the character, he could have grown and changed over time because it is his character. For a new actor, that sort of change will inevitably be seen as in some way not honoring the character he created. Black Panther will therefore become a frozen caricature, forever reminding us what might have been (or at least until the franchise dies a quiet death).
Instead, by acknowledging that Boseman’s T’Challa is forever gone, they can put what he built into the hands of someone new that can build their own character while still continuing and honoring Boseman’s legacy. One of the things I’ve always liked about the MCU is the way its overall continuity and story arc makes the characters seem like real people living real lives. In real life, when people inevitably pass on, this is what you have to do. You can’t replace people. You can only carry on with those who are left.
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I can understand and respect what you’re saying.
I just view superheroes as classic literary characters equivalent to Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, and Beowulf.
We have TONS of actors that have played Sherlock Holmes over the years, and some more iconic than others. But we still acknowledge that the character transcends the actor, irrespective of their exit from the franchise.
Besides, I missed the part in Endgame when Terrance Howard fought side by side with the Avengers. Let’s not make it seem like Marvel hasn’t decided to recast before.
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There I absolutely agree with you. Boseman was perfect in the role. But it’s also already canon that the mantle of Black Panther is handed down… So, we’ll have to see who gets it next.
But if they had recast him as T’Challa, who do you think would have been a fitting actor? Boseman was really one of those actors who just was a special talent. I’m struggling to think of anyone else who could bring what he brought to the role.
Agreed too. As Kevin Smith said, comic books are our modern mythology, and myths are part of what makes us human.
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Perhaps the difference here is that there is only one superman, so recasts are acceptable and inevitable, but Black Panther is a title, not a name, and has been passed on from generation to generation.
James Bond is about to face the same challenge after the last film.
I loved the Chadwick Boseman characterisation, and I’m ever so sad he’s gone, but I don’t see why that should be the end of Black Panther.
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They’ve continued using the same character in the new comics though, so the literary legacy is not at risk.
It’s inevitable that they’ll eventually reboot the cinematic universe as well, as they’ve done with super hero characters many, many times. I have little doubt that T’Challa will appear on screen again. Just maybe in a different iteration of the MCU.
Edit to add: I doubt anyone will be very surprised when the character of Tony Stark eventually returns to screen even though they killed him off in the MCU and Robert Downey Jr retired from the role.
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