will the second one also be a cultural phenomenon and bridge all races together to bring peace to the world?
Or will they react watching the second the same as they did the first? "Not quite awesome. And don't tell anyone I said this, but the movie was so.....black. Except for Bilbo Baggins, now working for the CIA. They couldn't get an Avenger to show up during the movie, just for a change of pace?" "I'm taking away your liberal card." "Right?"
Disney Grapples With How to Proceed on 'Black Panther' Without Chadwick Boseman 6:55 AM PDT 9/2/2020 by Tatiana Siegel , Borys Kit Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images Outside of family, only a small group of insiders was aware of the Marvel star’s battle with cancer, and now studio executives are grieving and figuring out a way forward. On Aug. 28, Marvel chief creative officer Kevin Feige received an urgent email regarding Chadwick Boseman, with no further information. Unbeknownst to anyone at the studio, the Black Panther star had been battling colon cancer privately for four-plus years and had taken a sudden turn for the worse. By the time Feige read the message an hour later, Boseman already had died, sending shock waves through Disney and the tight-knit Marvel Cinematic Universe. A source close to Boseman tells The Hollywood Reporter that the 43-year-old actor, who had become noticeably thin in recent months, was convinced until about a week before his death that he was going to beat cancer and would be able to gain the weight back for a Black Panther sequel that was scheduled to go into production in March. The actor was even set to prepare for the new film beginning in September. Now, the studio is processing the grief of losing a loved one — an actor beloved and respected on- and offscreen — while having to face the economic realities of forging ahead with a billion-dollar franchise without its titular star. Furthermore, his death will ripple across the Marvel film universe, given that the Black Panther character was poised to appear in other interconnected films, as Boseman already had done in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and last year’s all-time top box office grosser, Avengers: Endgame. Disney sources say the company is processing its grief and that its focus at this stage is to pay tribute to Boseman and not on the making of a Black Panther sequel. Only a handful of non-family members knew that Boseman was sick, including producing partner Logan Coles, longtime agent Michael Greene, trainer Addison Henderson and 42 director Brian Helgeland — with varying degrees of knowledge about the severity of the actor’s condition. No one involved with Black Panther was aware, says a source. It was Boseman’s wish to keep his cancer battle private. Many are left wondering how Boseman kept his diagnosis under wraps while shooting a film with a colossal budget like the $200 million Black Panther in 2017 (the film opened the following year and went on to earn $1.35 billion worldwide and was nominated for a best picture Oscar). But film finance attorney Schuyler Moore says a Marvel star wouldn’t likely require a medical examination for insurance purposes. “Big studios don’t often [get] completion bonds,” says Moore. “They are more prevalent in the indie filmmaking world. Sometimes, the big studios will look to insure for a particular actor, but they usually have a particular reason for doing so. Otherwise, studios will just shoulder the risk [of sickness or death].” In recent years, studios have contended with the sudden deaths of franchise stars including Disney in 2016 with Star Wars’ Carrie Fisher at age 60, Universal in 2013 with Fast & Furious’ Paul Walker at 40, and Warner Bros. in 2008 with The Dark Knight’s Heath Ledger at 28. In each case, the studios found ways to move ahead with all-important franchises while also honoring beloved or fan-favorite actors. In Fisher’s case, Disney’s Lucasfilm initially said it would carry on without Princess Leia — one of the most popular characters in modern film history — for 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. It later changed course, putting Fisher back into the story, with director J.J. Abrams incorporating a combination of unused footage from 2015’s The Force Awakens and 2017’s The Last Jedi and CG effects to create Fisher’s scenes in Skywalker. “We assembled this enormous matrix of everything that she ever said, and [co-writer] Chris Terrio essentially went through the footage and wrote her scenes based around the lines that were available,” VFX supervisor Roger Guyett of Industrial Light & Magic told THR in January. Likewise, Universal had issues of its own when star Walker died in a car crash while on a break from filming the seventh installment of Fast & Furious. After pressing pause on production, the studio and director James Wan came up with a plan that would salvage the movie but retire the character and give him an appropriate sendoff. The production used Walker’s two brothers as stand-ins for scenes and scans of their bodies were used for others, with Walker’s face coming from outtakes or even other movies. With Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, Warners launched a robust awards-season campaign for Ledger, who won a posthumous supporting actor Oscar. Still, the challenges Disney faces are, in some ways, unprecedented given that Boseman is Black Panther’s eponymous star. The closest approximation would be The Crow’s Brandon Lee, killed in an on-set accident only a few days away from completing the film in 1993 (the film’s script was tweaked, and Crow was finished with the help of early CGI technology and stunt doubles). Most observers agree that Disney has several options. One is to replace Boseman, which could generate a fan outcry and prompt inevitable comparisons between actors. Even with a scheduled release date of 2022, already iffy due to the coronavirus pandemic, few actors may be willing to take on that challenge. The second option, which may be more tenable, is to make T’Challa’s sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright) the new Black Panther. That scenario also aligns with events portrayed in one of the comic book series on which the film is based. Whatever direction Disney takes, the loss of Boseman to the franchise is immeasurable. As Coogler wrote in his remembrance of the star: “I spent the last year preparing, imagining and writing words for him to say, that we weren’t destined to see. It leaves me broken knowing that I won’t be able to watch another
Here’s my guess: Marvel will kill off T’Challa in the movies, probably of cancer, to check the SJW boxes. Then they will resurrect, redeem and make Killmonger the new BP. They might also kill him off in the comics for ease of continuity and to check that extra SJW box.
I think they might just skip to Shuri becoming Black Panther. I can't see Killmonger being redeemable.
I give it 50/50. They made Winter Solder into a good guy and he killed Tony's parents and was an assassin for the commies. I think they have to look at the starpower to pull it off and MBJ has it.
I bet Donald Glover could fill the role PERFECTLY (after getting him bulked up). Many actors have played Batman.. Superman... Terrance Howard was first to play Rhodie, but then the studios went with Don Cheadle. And Mark Ruffalo wasn't the first to play the Hulk. The Black Panther character existed before Boseman and should continue after Boseman, with all due respect to his excellent portrayal.
Would people really complain if they recast the role with an appropriate actor as long as they paid tribute in the films? I mean, what if they delay Black Panther 2 for a year and announce someone like John David Washington or Lakeith Stanfield as the replacement? Would people complain too much?
Two things: We're in the hyper-pc-sjw era where replacing this actor, who is a 'hero' right now, within the next few years would be negative press and Disney would get eaten alive unless they did it in some clever way. Replacing Banner and Rhodie was early in the MCU run, and it's tougher to do it now when the actors are instantly tied to the role. Black Panther is a mantle that gets passed on. So the story mechanism is already there for another character to become BP. Not only that, they're setting another precedent with Thor 4 with Jane getting the Thor power. I still think it's going to be Killmonger.
