Chadwick Aaron Boseman, an actor known best for his role as King T’Challa in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, passed away August 28, 2020  after battling colon cancer for four years.

Boseman was born on Nov. 29, 1976 in South Carolina. He attended Howard University majoring in Fine Arts. While Boseman is an amazing actor, he had a slow start to his career. He had guest roles on popular shows such as “Castle,” “ER” and “Law and Order.” Boseman found fame late in his life at 35-years-old, casted as Jackie Robinson in the hit motion picture “42: The Jackie Robinson Story.” 

Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson in “42 The Jackie Robinson Story” streaming on HBOMax.

Boseman’s journey to the King of Wakanda is unknown to most. He originally auditioned for a role in “Iron Man 3” and was turned away. He came back to Marvel a few months later to audition for the role of Drax in “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Sarah Halley Finn, the casting director for most Marvel films, described Boseman as having a presence that left a long lasting impression. Finn brought Boseman back to audition for a role in “Captain America: Civil War” and the decision was unanimous for him to play King T’Challa.

Marvel and Boseman worked very closely together to develop T’Challa for audiences. Marvel wanted Boseman to speak with an American or British accent in fear of what audiences would accept and listen to for a full movie. Boseman stated in no uncertain terms that he would speak with an African accent or he would walk away from the role. In the end, he got his way and T’Challa would have an African accent.

Boseman trained strenuously for months for his role. After filming “Captain America: Civil War,” he would go into training for “Black Panther.” Boseman would have the first African American in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have a solo film with a mostly African American cast. Ryan Coogler, director of “Black Panther,” worked closely with Boseman to make a movie that would influence the world.

Boseman became so much more than just a king in a movie, he became a role model for people. Boseman said in an interview, “There was one kid [fighting cancer] who used the Black Panther as sort of his inspiration. He saw himself as a Wakandan, he saw himself as having the spirit of Wakanda in his fight.” 

Chadwick Boseman at the premiere of “Black Panther”. Elizabeth Goodenough/Everett Collection

Boseman was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in 2016 which would progress to stage four cancer. He kept his diagnosis a secret from the public eye and from Marvel Studios all the while filming “Captain America: Civil War,” “Black Panther,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” and “Avengers: Endgame.” He did this in hopes of making it through filming of “Black Panther Wakanda Forever” before taking a break to fight the cancer.

Coogler talked about the last conversation that he had with Boseman. He mentioned that he had just finished the original script for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and asked Boseman to read it before giving it to Marvel for their approval. He wanted Boseman’s feedback and notes on the story because of how much value Boseman brought to T’Challa and to all to Wakanda.

Coogler made sure that “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” would be a tribute to Boseman and all that he has done for Wakanda. On the cast list for filming, each actor is assigned a number that goes on the call list each day to know who is called for what times. Number one is reserved for the lead actor or actress of a production. The cast list for this new film left the number one spot blank in honor of Boseman which is unheard of in the film industry. It was a powerful message for the cast and crew of the film.

“We invoked [Chadwick’s] spirit on a daily basis. All of us found a way to pay tribute to him in different ways,” said Lupita Nyong’o, reprising her role as Nakia. “The line producer proposed not having a No. 1 person on the call sheet, and so there was no No. 1. And we started with the No. 2 onwards, and when Ryan told me that I just wept, because everybody just wanted to carry him with us.”

“We visited his resting place before we started filming and we had that moment as a cast,” Nyong’o said. “We went with the new cast who hadn’t met him as well. It was our way of continuing this journey. It really doesn’t feel like we have anything to prove to his spirit. I feel very, very centered about how we brought him along with us. Ryan had an artist make this necklace that has Chadwick’s image on it and he wore it every day. So he’s been with us, he knows what we did. He inspired what we did. We honored him unabashedly and unapologetically.”

Boseman was a revolutionary actor who has brought great change to the film industry and the world will never be the same.