Chadwick Boseman’s tragic death last week sent the entertainment world reeling. Since then, we’ve seen his MCU co-stars pay tribute to him on ABC’s Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute to a King and fans pouring their hearts out on social media. We’ve also learned that apparently nobody at Marvel Studios had any idea he was ill, so this was as much of a shock to them as it was to us.
Of course, the news has caused fans to begin debating the best way to pay tribute to Boseman in Black Panther 2, but there’s one idea in particular that seems to be building momentum. First up, almost everybody rejects the thought of recasting the role. Boseman was so iconic and regal as T’Challa that simply bringing in another actor to play him would feel disrespectful. Similarly, it’d be awkward if they digitally recreated him Carrie Fisher style. Perhaps they could get away with doing it for a single scene, but I don’t want to see a Black Panther 2 starring a creepy CGI Boseman.
The other solution is to hand the mantle of the Black Panther down from T’Challa, and fans are saying that Letitia Wright’s Shuri is the obvious choice. In fact, a new petition launched on Change.org is calling for this to happen, and it reads as follows:
Chadwick Boseman can never be replaced. He IS Black Panther. No actor should take on this role in the light of his devastating passing. Shuri should take up the mantle of Black Panther, as she has done in the comics. Please reimagine Black Panther II in this way as a tribute to this incredible man.
This makes sense to me and Shuri could actually fill two roles on a new Avengers team. First up as a new Black Panther and secondly as the tech-orientated replacement for Tony Stark. Not to mention that Letitia Wright’s take on the character was enormously popular and there have long been rumors that Marvel Studios plans to heavily feature her going forward. If she took up the mantle in Black Panther 2, I think she’d be fantastic. I only wish it didn’t have to be in such depressing circumstances.
