Vale – Chadwick Boseman
Chadwick Boseman, the star of Marvel’s Black Panther and a rising star in Hollywood’s pantheon of young talent, passed away suddenly this week.
Boseman, who was 43 at the time of his death, rose to prominence as the face of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first black superhero, the eponymous Black Panther, following his reveal in Captain America: Civil War, following a breakout performance in 2013’s 42, a film about US Baseball legend Jackie Robinson. Minor roles in the reviled Gods Of Egypt and Draft Day paved the way for his solemn performance as T’Challa, the young King of the African country of Wakanda in Marvel’s Civil War, in which the secretive nation is revealed to the world through the machinations of Hydra.
Civil War’s global success led to Boseman appearing in Marshall, in which he played the first African-American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, which released in 2017. The triple-punch of Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame saw Boseman’s star continue to rise in pop culture, as Black Panther cemented himself as a legitimate box-office draw and success story.
Recent films in which Boseman starred were the actioner 21 Bridges, and the Spike Lee film Da 5 Bloods, in which he appeared as the tragic Norman Holloway, who perishes in the Vietnam War spurring his friends to retrace their steps later in life to find his body.
Unbeknownst to almost all, Boseman had been diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2016, and kept it a closely guarded secret throughout the production of every film he made after that time. His diagnosis was only revealed following his passing on August 28th.
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