Why Kevin Feige Chose Not to Recast Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be missing its titular superhero played by Chadwick Boseman, who died in September 2020 from colon cancer.

Boseman originated the character of T'Challa, aka Black Panther, in Captain America: Civil War before returning for his first solo movie Black Panther and again in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and he had a posthumous voiceover role in What If...?

Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has now spoken of his decision not to recast the character following the actor's untimely death, saying that the focus for the film franchise now is on what's next.

Why Kevin Feige Chose Not to Recast Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther

Feige spoke to Empire magazine about Marvel's forthcoming Black Panther sequel, saying that it didn't feel right to recast T'Challa after Boseman's death.

"It just felt like it was much too soon to recast," Feige told the publication. "Stan Lee always said that Marvel represents the world outside your window.

"And we had talked about how, as extraordinary and fantastical as our characters and stories are, there's a relatable and human element to everything we do. The world is still processing the loss of Chad. And Ryan [Coogler, the film's director] poured that into the story."

Feige added that he and and Coogler decided to focus on what they could do with Black Panther without Boseman, and how they could move the story forward in a respectful manner.

He said: "The conversations were entirely about, yes, 'What do we do next?' And how could the legacy of Chadwick—and what he had done to help Wakanda and the Black Panther become these incredible, aspirational, iconic ideas—continue? That's what it was all about."

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will follow characters like T'Challa's sister Shuri (Letitia Wright), his mother Ramonda (Angela Bassett), and his former love interest Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o).

As well as dealing with the loss of T'Challa they will have to face a new threat, Namor (Tenoch Huerta), one of Black Panther's most infamous enemies; in the Marvel comics he is known as the Sub-Mariner.

Namor is also the leader of a technologically advanced nation, Talocan, and the similarities between him and T'Challa make the character "a dream antagonist," according to Coogler.

The film will mark the end of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Phase 5 starting from the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will come to theaters on Friday, November 11.