Why Marvel shouldn't replace Boseman as Black Panther

Almost immediately after the shocking news of his death at age 43 (!) fans of Chadwick Boseman and the Black Panther franchise immediately began speculating about the future of the series now that the titular hero was gone.

Besides being too soon and arguably a little trivial given the tragedy, the outpouring did illustrate just how much this character and Boseman's performance meant to so many people. This isn't Batman or Superman, where fans may have a favorite but they're ok with new people inhabiting the role.

For so many of us, Boseman was Black Panther. And it'd be hard to accept or see anyone else playing his character.

Before he died, writer-director Ryan Coogler was working on a sequel that was expected to arrive sometime in I believe 2022, but with covd-19 one can assume it won't happen until long after that. Coogler is such a creative genius I am sure he had much more than your garden variety superhero sequel in mind, especially since the political content of Black Panther was risky and paid off -- he basically had carte blanche to do whatever he wanted with the follow-up.

And now this tragedy has happened. There is an elegant solution though.

My understanding is that in the Black Panther comic books the mantle of the panther is eventually passed on from T'Challa (Boseman) to his sister Shuri (played wonderfully by a scene-stealing Letitia Wright in the original). It would be a fitting and more importantly symbolically significant if the same thing happened in the film universe.

Part of what made Black Panther so special, so much more than just a movie -- was what it did for diversity and representation. Of course, it was not the first time a big screen movie centered around a black superhero, but there had never been one quite like this.

The strong women characters were Black Panther's not-so-secret weapon with Danai Gurira, Lupita N'yongo Angela Bassett and Letitia Wright stealing almost every scene they are in. It would be a poignant and fitting tribute to Boseman to pass the torch to a female co-star.

Clearly some kind of digital representation of Boseman would be in poor taste and impractical. Perhaps another actor could take over the role but they would be unfairly compared to Boseman and the continuity of the incredible cinematic world that Coogler created.

Coogler has years to figure out how to get this right and this one franchise that people will be ready for now matter how long it takes. So here's hoping he gets it right and does Boseman fans proud.