Sending their love. Many members of the Marvel family spoke out on Friday, August 28, following the breaking news that Chadwick Boseman, who portrayed T’Challa in 2018’s Black Panther, died at age 43.
“It is with immeasurable grief that we confirm the passing of Chadwick Boseman,” the family said in a statement on Friday. “Chadwick was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016 and battled with it these last four years as it progressed to stage IV. A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much. From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and several more, all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy. It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther.”
The statement continued: “He died in his home, with his wife and family by his side.”
Over the years, Boseman appeared in multiple Avengers films, making his debut as Black Panther in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. Two years later, he led his own film, Black Panther, before appearing in Avengers: Infinity War. In 2019, Black Panther made a cameo in Avengers: End Game.
In 2019, when Black Panther won the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the 42 star took the stage. “I think of two questions we have received: 1.) Did we know that this movie was going to receive this kind of response? 2.) Has it changed the industry?” he began. “My answer to that is to be young, gifted and Black. We all know what it’s like to be told that there’s not a place for you to be featured. We know what it’s like to be told that there’s not a screen for you to be featured on — a stage for you to be featured on.”
He added: “We know what it’s like to be the tail and not the head. We know what it’s like to be beneath and not above, and that is what we went to work with every day because we know that had something special that we wanted to give the world — that we could be full human beings in the roles that we were playing. That we could create a world that exemplified a world we wanted to see.”
Following his death, the cast of Black Panther and other Avengers cast members shared their thoughts on social media. Additionally, the DC Comics Twitter account — DC is the famous Marvel rival — tweeted a powerful statement. “To a hero who transcends universes. Wakanda Forever,” the statement read. “Rest in Power Chadwick.”
