Black Panther’s Chadwick Boseman mourned after losing private battle with colon cancer

For a while, I was not up for the hype that came with Black Panther.

I had enjoyed Chadwick Boseman in Marshall, Da 5 Bloods and on Get On Up, the latter as a wonderfully energetic and convincing James Brown.

And then when I watched him in Black Panther, as the titular character, after the hype, he drew me to the skin. Outside my personal thoughts around the movie itself, he carried the role of T’Challa with grace and it was easy to understand why the unifier inspired many people across the world.

And yet in all that time, he was battling colon cancer. To put it into context, his diagnosis was years ago and in that time he gave us Civil War, Marshall, Black Panther, Infinity War, Endgame, 21 Bridges and Da 5 Bloods.

A real life super hero he was.

And even in that time he thought of of other people. In the video shared below, in an interview for Black Panther, he spoke of how two children battling with cancer were pretty much holding on for the film to get ready. How it affected it him slaps differently now, as strong as it was then.

And for fathers and mothers to their sons and daughters, it will be difficult news to break as ZiFM Stereo sportscaster said:

A man who did not come from means, Boseman could have become a basketball player, but for when one of his teammates was shot dead. He wrote a play and performed it at school. From that moment basketball did not mean as much.

He worked through his career and when he got an opportunity to study at Oxford, Boseman could not afford it. Phylicia Rashard, his teacher, of the Cosby Show fame, solicited a private donation to sponsor it from a celebrity. He would find out later that it was Denzel Washington. And it is a film produced by Washington that will be his last film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, out on Netflix later this year.

In a statement from his family announcing Boseman’s death:

It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther. He died in his home, with his wife and family by his side. The family thanks you for your love and prayers, and asks that you continue to respect their privacy during this difficult time.”

It is that role many will remember greatly but there was much more to him, a hilarious performance on SNL being one.

At 43, Boseman is a great loss.

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