Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Republicans in disarray!

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The words do not have to be perfect.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Wakanda Forever, RIP Chadwick Boseman

Open Thread: Wakanda Forever, RIP Chadwick Boseman

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Fuck 2020.

Open thread

 

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    lamh36

    I just cannot fathom this.

    Chadwick Boseman was battling cancer for 4 years and still gave us Civil War, Black Panther, Avengers IFW/Endgame, Marshall, and 5 Bloods! All while battling Stage IV cancer, THE ENTIRE TIME!

    43, same as I am.

    Fuck 2020 mahn…

  2. 2.

    No name

    Thank you for putting up a post on this.  Just another awful thing in this hideous year. I’m crying.  So young and so much talent!

  3. 3.

    Elizabelle

    @lamh36:   I know.  And we thought he just played a superhero on the screen.

    So sad.  Too young, but a happy life with success.  I wish he had been granted more years.

    We might do some fundraising later for colon cancer.  It is a terrible disease.

  6. 6.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I’m old, read more than watch and have no idea who this person is. But I should and I will. Tears.

  7. 7.

    Bruuuuce

    In a horrible irony, he played Jackie Robinson and today is Jackie Robinson Day around MLB.

    Bollocks, and requiescat

  9. 9.

    Highway Rob

    I was about to get some work done, and I decided to check Twitter one last time. His account had just shared this horrible news. I’ve been in shock ever since.

    Black Panther wasn’t for me, not really, nor should it be. But Boseman and Coogler allowed me a glimpse of a world I’ll never truly know, a world of beauty, and strength, and pride… and that world was black. An unbelievable accomplishment, and king did that while fighting cancer. I’m typing a lot of words here, but I haven’t the words.

    Rest in power.

  11. 11.

    Rina99

    Just reposting what I said before:

    I was stunned to see the news about Chadwick. It hits differently to read something like this when the person is around your age. Such a loss, he was so talented.

  13. 13.

    Mary G

    WTF is up with losing this amazing talent when Dick Cheney and Henry Kissinger are still wasting space on the planet? And what a remarkable feat to keep it secret for four years. He had multiple surgeries and chemo and not one person called TMZ?  2020 is breaking my heart.

  15. 15.

    No name

    @TaMara (HFG): And lamh36, to do all this while fighting cancer?  And what a role model and inspiration he was to kids, and should have been for years!  Just fuck cancer and this year!!!

  16. 16.

    dmsilev

    Fuck 2020.

    You know how it’s traditional to have a yearly retrospective on December 31st? This year’s is just going to be that phrase, over and over again.

  17. 17.

    James E Powell

    Saw this on twitter and just could not believe it. This is a guy who had the stuff for a long and fruitful career in films. Fuck cancer. And fuck the notion of a just universe.

  19. 19.

    clay

    This one shook me. The scene of him in Avengers Endgame, stepping out of the portal and quietly nodding to Cap was an instant classic.  Such powerful confidence and grace.  The world is darker now.

    Much love and comfort to his friends and loved ones.

  25. 25.

    TaMara (HFG)

  28. 28.

    lamh36

    Lord…I don’t envy any parent that have to break this sort of news to their babies especially since so many young Black kids loved Black Panther…

  30. 30.

    TaMara (HFG)

    @Belafon: I think if you put it in the text box (vs. Visual) it will quote tweet with the link embedded. It won’t do the full tweet like FP can do, but I think that’s it.

    Next time you see Watergirl around, ask her, she knows exactly how to do it.

  32. 32.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Sorry to say I have not seen any of his films. I will remedy that as soon as possible.

    But I was very much aware of him as a gifted young actor, and knew the love and respect in which so many, here and elsewhere, held him. This news breaks my heart. Deepest condolences to his family and friends.

  36. 36.

    Mary G

    @Belafon: If you see my comment at #31, on the PC I click on the little down arrow at top right and select

    </> Embed Tweet

    A second box pops up with a blue box that says “copy code” – click that, then paste in the text tab on the BJ comment box. It won’t do pictures for anybody that’s not a front pagers, but you get all the links and hashtags live for clicking.

    I’ve never been able to figure out how to embed tweets from my phone, though. If anybody knows how on Android, please share.

  37. 37.

    dmsilev

    @Jeffro: We’ll know that the shit has well, truly, and thoroughly hit the fan when there’s a similar tweet from Barack Obama.

  38. 38.

    Mandarama

    He was amazing, and my family loved him. So sad. Not only was Black Panther the best hero movie, he also helped teach my kids about The Godfather of Soul!

    Also, “Aw, hell naw, Karen. Keep your bland-ass potato salad to yourself!”

  41. 41.

    lamh36

    @Variety

    Chris Evans remembers Chadwick Boseman: “I’m absolutely devastated. This is beyond heartbreaking… He was a deeply committed and constantly curious artist. He had so much amazing work still left to create. I’m endlessly grateful for our friendship” http://bit.ly/32y4Gnb

  43. 43.

    Mary G

    we should have been watching him at age 70 get that lifetime achievement oscar with a 15 minute clip package of his dozens of Best Actor nominations— Claire Willett (@clairewillett) August 29, 2020

  45. 45.

    Another Scott

    @Mary G: Excellent explanation.

    It’s basically the same process on Android.  Click on the blue twitter birdy in the top right corner.  A view of the tweet will appear with the down-arrow caret in the upper right corner.  Click on it, then click on the </> Embed Tweet popup at the bottom, Click the Copy Code button, and continue as above.

    HTH.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  46. 46.

    Brachiator

    I saw some news reports and waited for a while, thinking that maybe this was an unfortunate Internet hoax. But no. Very sad news.

    His Black Panther is obviously iconic, and he might have anchored the next era of Marvel superhero films. Within that genre he fit perfectly with the other Avengers heavyweights, and also hit it out of the park with his own Marvel movie. I really wanted to see what he would do in the next Black Panther film.

    And his range as an actor should be noted. I have not seen all his movies, but his portrayal of James Brown, for example, was damned impressive.

    I just feel sad at the news of the passing of a talented actor and yet am grateful that we got to see at least a bit of his versatility and skills.

    May he rest in peace.

  49. 49.

    Belafon

    @Mary G:

    It might be because I’m running Chromium from Ubuntu, but I switched to my PC but don’t have a down arrow. Oh, well, I included the link above.

    Never mind. I get it now. I was thinking I needed to do something from here, not from Twitter.

  50. 50.

    Another Scott

    @SiubhanDuinne: Well said.

    I have not seen any of his films either, but it has been clear even to me that he was a great talent.  It’s so shocking for him to be gone so soon.

    RIP.  Sincere condolences to his family and all who loved him.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  56. 56.

    westyny

    Gobsmacked. Devastated. A great actor in his prime and a true hero to so many. What an awful year.

  63. 63.

    Steeplejack

    @Mary G:

    It’s basically the same on Android phone: click V, click “Embed tweet,” click “Copy code,” then copy it into a BJ comment in Text mode.

  66. 66.

    TaMara (HFG)

    John Lewis, Chadwick Boseman, countless loved ones from Covid-19. It’s all too much.

    But in their honor, we need to get out and vote and rid 2020 of at least one two disasters: Trump and the GOP Senate majority.

    With that, I need to sign off and clean up the kitchen, I did quite a bit of cooking tonight.

  71. 71.

    Lyrebird

    @lamh36: A terrible loss…   Wanted to reply to thank you.  I’m not a big TV watcher, so it’s only because of you and other BJ commenters that I’d seen bits of that SNL skit…  which was pretty epic.

  73. 73.

    Mike in NC

    How awful. I read a biography of comedian Peter Sellers years ago. He died of heart disease in his 50s and his son even younger, a family problem. That’s just genetics.

  74. 74.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    F*ck 2020 with a rusty chainsaw.

    I’m a complete Marvel fangirl and I saw Black Panther in the theaters about five times.  T’Challa was awesome!!!  This is so horrible!!!! What a huge loss for everyone.

  76. 76.

    RobertDSC-Mac Mini

    A 7-year old Latina girl, the daughter of one of my teammates, loved Black Panther so much. She would shout “Wakanda Forever!” so loud that his microphone would pick it up and it became one of our running joke lines. He told me today that she is in tears and is watching BP again just because.

     

    RIP, Chadwick. Thank you for gracing our world with your light.

  77. 77.

    lamh36

    Ok…I’m just gutted at this news.  Like I didn’t even know this young man personally, but I loved his work and was a fan even before Black Panther.

    Speaking as a Black woman, even before Black Panther, when he was just OURS and one of our bests.  He played our heroes, our icons and now he’s gone too soon, at the age of 43 (which just so happens to be my age as well).  And to learn that even battling cancer he continued working and giving his all and giving US great content and positive representation, and not just the iconic career making role of Black Panther.

    Representation truly does matter and even before Black Panther pushed in into A-list mainstream status, he ALWAYS represented US so well.

    I’m gonna need the weekend to fathom this and even then, if anyone mentions it at work Monday, I may get emotional again.

    RIP King.  #WakandaForever.

  78. 78.

    SFBayAreaGal

    Noooooooo. I love, love, love him.

    Rest in peace Chadwick Boseman. Thank you for what you did with the time that you were given.

    My condolences to his family and friends on the loss of this beloved man.

  81. 81.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yeah, fuck 2020!!!

    Such a talented actor! Anyone else as Black Panther just does not feel quite right…

  83. 83.

    Tazj

    I kept thinking it couldn’t be true, when I first read about it. He leaves behind a tremendous legacy not only from his work but by all reports he was a fantastic person. So terribly sad, he was much too young.

  84. 84.

    Royston Vasey

    One piece of good news in 2020 (from a New Zealanders perspective). The Christchurch Terrorist (March 15 2019) has been sentenced to Life without parole – a first in New Zealand history.

    Today, Australian Brenton Tarrant, 29, was been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of ever leaving jail. He had earlier admitted 51 charges of murder, 40 of attempted murder and one charge of terrorism.

    “This has been a crime in New Zealand the likes of which has never occurred before and now we’ve seen a sentence the likes of which we’ve never seen before as well,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

    “But yes, it gave me relief to know that that person will never see the light of day”, she said.

    She said it was humbling to hear the words of the victims and families in court and after the sentence was handed down.

    “To hear some of those first words being thanks for New Zealanders, being appreciation of those who have shown such comfort to the Muslim community, to hear the Imam of Linwood commenting that he thinks he made the best decision of his life to live in New Zealand. That is very humbling to hear after what the community has been through.

    “I think many New Zealanders would have felt again that wave of devastation because now we’re not just hearing about the day itself, we’re hearing about the aftermath. We’re hearing about partners without their best friends, children without their fathers, and that’s been devastating to hear in the court.”

    Ardern said the crime was still “raw” for New Zealand and acknowledged the strength of the Muslim community and those who have relived the “horrific events” of 15 March.

    “Nothing will take the pain away but I hope you felt the arms of New Zealand around you through this whole process, and I hope you continue to feel that through all the days that follow.

  85. 85.

    Yutsano

    @YY_Sima Qian: i think they pull Black Panther 2. How do you replace an icon? It can’t happen. It might not stop the greedy fucks in Hollywood, but it can’t happen.

  86. 86.

    CaseyL

    I can’t get over how many projects he was in, how many movies he made, while fighting cancer.

    Not only that he knew his time might be cut short; but that he had the sheer grit, the will, the strength, the resolve, to work like that despite the chemo, the radiation, the surgeries, and the advancing disease.

    Definitely not the kind of person we can afford to lose.

    GodDAMNit, 2020.

  87. 87.

    aliasofwestgate

    @Yutsano: We’ll see. Somehow i think Disney will give it quite a pause for a while before announcing a new actor and going on with the trilogy. But i doubt Coogler will direct or write again. Disney wants its dollar. Plus as it is with those of us who’ve been in entertainment ‘the show must go on’.  I really hope they give it quite a while before they even start up another one

    ETA:  with fervor: FUCK 2020

  89. 89.

    Brachiator

    @Yutsano:

    i think they pull Black Panther 2. How do you replace an icon? It can’t happen. It might not stop the greedy fucks in Hollywood, but it can’t happen.

    I understand that Coogler was signed on for Black Panther 2 and was really interested in seeing where the characters could go next.

    The pandemic and the sad passing of Mr Boseman insanely magnifies the studios problems, but I hope they find a way to continue. Fans loved the character, and many fell in love with Boseman’s interpretation of the character. I think that it is not disrespectful to want to see the further adventures of Black Panther. And there are other characters in the film who audiences would be glad to see again.

  90. 90.

    Anya

    I am devastated. Such a talented artist and a wonderful human being. RIP, Chadwick Boseman.

    What a loss.

  91. 91.

    Martin

    @Yutsano: Actually, it would be pretty true to the comics to go forward. I mean, it was always the point that the heroes were larger than the people that played them, which is why they would come back in different forms.

    I mean, yes, Chadwick made Black Panther such a good character, but its a character the community needs more than they need Chadwick to play him. What made the film important was that it put black characters front and center as hero (not in the magical negro sense) and leader and people dealing with conflict and everything in between. And the community needs that to keep happening. It can’t stop just because Chadwick isn’t there to play the role. In fact, I would argue it needs to go forward to prove that there’s plenty of talent out there who can do this.

    I saw how the film made students feel, and they deserve to feel that over and over again.

  92. 92.

    Martin

    @Mary G: And that points to a possible solution. What makes this not that hard to solve is that Black Panther is not a mutant or have supernatural powers. He mostly just has this massive technological superiority, like Iron Man, which is why you can jam a number of people (Pepper, James Rhodes) into the suit and turn them into superheroes with the addition of the plant thing.

    Marvel already has this problem to deal with – Black Panther and Shuri both vanished in Endgame, so Wakanda had to choose a new leader during the time before they returned (5 years). That’s not been explored, so they could have M’Baku or Nakia take the throne and the role of Black Panther.

  93. 93.

    YY_Sima Qian

    I could see Disney pull Black Panther 2 for the time being, but introduce a new actor playing the character through one of the cross over event movies during Phase IV. Indeed, that was how Black Panther was introduced during Civil War.

    I am not a fanatic of comic books. Have there been multiple people taking on the persona of Black Panther in the comics, like many other heroes?

  95. 95.

    Martin

    @YY_Sima Qian: Yeah. His dad was Black Panther, after all. But from what I understand Shuri was Black Panther in the comics as well.

    As I note above, They already have a succession problem to deal with due to the events in the last films, which would normally be resolved using Shuri as natural successor, but she’s not available. So even if Chadwick was returning to the film, they have a  problem to solve because there would already be a new leader of Wakanda and a new Black Panther. That’s a given right now. What was in question was how they were going to reconcile Chadwicks return to Wakanda and facing a new king. It’s entirely possible that Disney knew Chadwick might not be able to return (surely  they were aware of his condition simply due to the insurance) and gave themselves an opportunity to resolve this in any of a number of different ways.

    So now they simply don’t have Chadwicks character challenge for the throne, or something like that, or the next film is set during that 5 years when Chadwick’s character simply doesn’t exist. I wouldn’t want that because Shuri’s character also doesn’t exist, and her character is amazing.

    Anyway, Disney has a plot problem to solve as it is around who is Black Panther.At a minimum there’s the assumption there are two.

  97. 97.

    Leto

    I’ve been crying for a while now. He was an amazing actor, wonderful human, and a fellow South Carolinian. This hurts more than I can explain.

    Wakanda forever.

  100. 100.

    trnc

    That’s really sad. 43 is pretty early for colon cancer, right (or actually 39, if that’s when he was diagnosed)? Colonoscopies aren’t typically recommended until the age of 50.

  101. 101.

    Amir Khalid

    Painful to see such a fine actor, and an outstanding good guy, taken in his prime. RIP Chadwick Boseman.

  103. 103.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @Martin: Apparently there have been rumors that BP2 would see Shuri as Black Panther. Ta-Nehsi Coates did a recent run on the comic where T’challa disappeared for a lengthy period of time that eventually resulted in Killmonger’s resurrection. Nnedi Okorafor also contributed a Shuri miniseries to that storyline.

    Boseman knew what he meant to black kids. There are plans in place. From everything I’ve heard about the man, he would not have forgotten them as he began to realize that he would probably be unable to continue by the time filming for the sequel rolled around.

  104. 104.

    Miss Bianca

    Waking up to this news makes me just want to go back to bed again. RIP, Chadwick. Your extraordinary grace under extraordinary pressure should be an example to us all.

  105. 105.

    TomatoQueen

    @trnc: There is a documented  and so far unexplained rise in the incidence of colon cancer in young people, I remember reading last year. So far no f/up. There are two kinds of colon cancer, the one that moves at lightning speed and tends to be fatal to younger–in their 40s–men (Katie Couric’s 1st husband), and the kind called “indolent” that tends to affect the older group, the kind that makes people use the word ‘manageable’ and make people think aha we’ve got this beaten, produces breakthroughs about every 6 months, just as the last magic treatment stops working, meanwhile it’s 5fU until you can’t anymore and you’ve got neuropathy in your hands and feet and cachexia, but oh yeah it’s manageable until it isn’t. It took my mother after 14 years. Fuck cancer, fuck this lousy year, fuck Dick Cheney and Henry Kissinger and all the other war criminals.

    God bless your memory, Mr Boseman.

  106. 106.

    J R in WV

    @Burnspbesq:

    August 28, 2020 at 11:53 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Coltrane died at 40, Hendrix at 27, Túpac at 25.

    The best are often taken from us far too soon.

    Janis Joplin was also 27 when she died. H overdose. She was an amazing performer live, and her albums are also peak blues experiences. The best performer to come from Port Arthur TX, bar none!

    I was lucky enough to see her live 3 times, 1968, ’69, ’70.

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