I don’t envy Marvel Studios and director Ryan Coogler for having to deal with Chadwick Boseman’s death in Black Panther 2. T’Challa was almost universally considered the defining role of his career, with his political and social impact going way beyond your usual superhero. The sequel (and the wider MCU) will now have to address him passing, but exactly how they’ll go about it remains a mystery.
Earlier this week, Kevin Feige shed some light on the situation, saying: “we’re not going to have a CG Chadwick and we’re not recasting T’Challa.” That narrows down what they can do considerably and it seems likely that T’Challa will die off-screen and the Black Panther mantle will be taken up by his younger sister Shuri, as played by Letitia Wright.
But there’s a subtle difference between not having a CG Chadwick Boseman and not having a CG T’Challa. After all, the Black Panther suit covers up the entire body, so it might be possible to have the character on the screen without having to recreate the actor. In fact, a new report from FandomWire claims that this is indeed the case and that the opening of the movie will see T’Challa as Black Panther for a “short, respectful tribute and send off.” This could be something as simple as having an onscreen funeral for the character with T’Challa in full costume, which may mean they don’t have to use CG at all.
In any case, Feige and Coogler were both clearly hit hard by the loss and I expect they’re agonizing over the best way to go about this. It’s early days yet for Black Panther 2, but other reports say that Shuri will face down several contenders for the throne and that the core of the movie may be a clash between Wakanda and Namor’s Atlantis, with Doctor Doom secretly manipulating events.
