The death of Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman couldn’t be any less tragic, and Marvel Studios is set to send off his character T’Challa in the upcoming sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Though Marvel has promised not to recast the role, a group of fans on Twitter are now expressing their desire to have the part of T’Challa recast rather than hand over the Black Panther reins to another character.
The trend was pointed out by @GeekVibesNation:
A lot of fans are rallying behind #RecastTChalla
Do you think Marvel should recast the role or introdce a variant form of T'Challa?
I honestly feel that Chadwick would want to see the character live on and even his brother has echoed those same feelings pic.twitter.com/SURv42IRXv
— Geek Vibes Nation (@GeekVibesNation) January 16, 2022
It seems that the main point of the fans behind the hashtag is that T’Challa as a character is bigger than Boseman, and that even Boseman’s family is supportive of the decision to have someone else take the role of the King of Wakanda. There is even a Change.Org petition which has earned over 55,000 signatures.
#Superman was recast. #SpiderMan was recast. #Batman was recast. #Joker was recast. @MarvelStudios, #RecastTchalla!
Let the KING of #WakandaForever LIVE! pic.twitter.com/yft70k6veo— Beyond The Comic Book (@BeyondTheCB) January 16, 2022
Seeing a lot of talk about #RecastTChalla. I agree and Boseman would too… https://t.co/jmDu5PnBqu
— Film Junkee (@DaveePena) January 16, 2022
https://twitter.com/david_tk421/status/1482824995000799232
Looking at Boseman’s MCU run, you can say that his character has only started to grow, and that was what made his death so tragic. If anything, fans view this recasting as a way to have Boseman’s legacy as Black Panther live on, and give T’Challa an extensive arc as originally planned.
If anything, it looks like Marvel has already decided what they’re going to do with T’Challa, and the petition is coming too late, with Wakanda Forever set to come out later in the year. Some say that the simplest solution would be to introduce a T’Challa variant in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but as it stands, it looks like BP:WF is already set in stone with its story decision.
Catch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever when it hits theaters on Nov. 11.
