Two Marvel movies are currently enjoying the views from the Disney Plus Top 10 list. A look at today’s most-streamed films finds Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame sitting at 3rd and 8th on the chart, respectively. Unlike one or two other names (what on Earth is Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against the Universe doing at 2nd?), it’s not hard to see why this pair have been performing so well. For Endgame, the answer is prosaic – there’s no mystery in the highest-grossing pic of all time finding a big audience via streaming.
Black Panther’s high ranking, on the other hand, has a far more poignant reason behind it. Ordinarily, there wouldn’t be much to say. After all, it was always popular with fans. But Chadwick Boseman’s tragic, unexpected death last week has undoubtedly triggered a wave of renewed interest in his only solo Marvel outing.
There’s been a huge amount of coverage on the late actor in the past week and most readers will have since lost track of the number of tributes that’ve been made in his memory, such was the scale of the emotional outpouring. To exemplify, the tweet announcing his passing became the most-liked tweet of all time.
But now that the shock of the moment has started to subside, more details have begun to come to light. Boseman reportedly kept his illness a secret from all but his closest confidants, a claim that appears to have been corroborated by Black Panther director Ryan Coogler. That’s a pretty extraordinary revelation, given everyone had assumed Marvel were aware that he was sick. Instead, it appears they were as oblivious as the rest of us.
If you’re one of those fans to have revisited Black Panther (be it on Disney Plus or anywhere else), let us know by leaving a comment below. Boseman’s legacy isn’t something we ever wanted to have to talk about this soon, but it looks to be in safe hands at least.