An MCU Without Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther

I wanted to allow a decent amount of time to pass before writing this, strictly out of respect for the Boseman family. It has been nearly two weeks since the entire world was caught off guard by the devastating news that Chadwick Boseman had succumbed to a four year battle with colon cancer. I myself had to take several minutes to digest the information when I first found out. I remember just standing in front of my girlfriend blankly staring at my cell phone in disbelief as if my heart had refused to accept the news headline that ran across the screen. There has been an abundance of deaths that have happened far sooner than expected over the course of the last few years. The Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant along with his daughter Gigi and the superbly talented hip-hop artist Juice Wrld to name a few. However, there was something about the loss of Chadwick that really hit home for people worldwide. The actor had just played a significant role in the finale of the greatest cinematic project of all time with both Avengers Infinity War & Avengers Endgame; with his portrayal as King of Wakanda, the Black Panther. His solo outing as the iconic comic book character raked in over a billion dollars in the box office alone. Even after the credits rolled for all four of these movies, the future for Boseman's Black Panther appeared as bright as could be.

That brings us to the question that nobody wants to ask... What will the MCU do now that the billion-dollar role has been tragically vacated? It's a question that has been weighing heavily on the minds of MCU fans (such as myself) since word of Boseman's death was released to the public. It felt not only inconsiderate but completely disrespectful to his family for anyone to ask out loud. Unfortionately though, Chadwicks Black Panther had been positioned to be one of the pillars of the MCU's next era of storytelling. Now, as a result of these tragic circumstances, the mantel of the MCU's Black Panther has been vacated... Should it be left that way or would it be more respectful to ensure that Boseman's hard work does not die with him?

If the plan is to see to it that the Black Panther lives on, then how will Kevin Fiege and the rest of Marvel Studios make it happen? Will the actor's death in the real world be tied to his role in the movies? Will King T'challa be killed off in the MCU as well? Surely we're not going to have another War Machine scenario, where they just recast the role with another actor and hope nobody complains. That is most likely the worst way that the MCU could possibly address the situation. Such actions would be completely disrespectful to the actor who made the role as iconic as it is today.

With that being said, it appears that Kevin Fiegi and the rest of the team at Marvel Studios have there work cut out for them. They will have to find a way to explain the actors death whilst simultaneously replacing him with whoever is to take the thrown as the next Black Panther. This will not be an easy adjustment to make. However, given the 1 billion dollar outing that the first movie had, it is definitely not an option to drop the character all together. Which leaves fans such as myself in a state of suspense. What exactly does a Black Panther film without Chadwick Boseman look like? Regardless of whatever the answer to that question may be... All I can say for certain is Rest In Peace King and... Wakanda Forever!