What's the appropriate next step for Black Panther?

[Castle]

Obviously this is a very delicate situation. Any decision will garner criticism. I personally think Marvel should recast while continuing to use any Black Panther story on film as a huge tribute to Boseman.

[MyriVerse]

To be very honest, Shuri impressed me more in the first movie than T'Challa did. Frankly, I found T'Challa the weakest part of the movie. While it really sucks to get the lead this way, I'm ecstatic about the idea of Shuri being the new and future Black Panther.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Listen as cold as this sounds, the character existed many years before Boseman was born, it will exist many years after he past. A recast won’t change his contribution and avoiding it just takes an opportunity away for another black lead. It’s not ideal. But I think Marvel should just recast and continue with whatever they planned. It doesn’t diminish or disrespect Boseman of his accomplishments

[j9ac9k]

Listen as cold as this sounds, the character existed many years before Boseman was born, it will exist many years after he past. A recast won’t change his contribution and avoiding it just takes an opportunity away for another black lead. It’s not ideal. But I think Marvel should just recast and continue with whatever they planned. It doesn’t diminish or disrespect Boseman of his accomplishments

It's obviously a tricky issue because of the emotions of the fans and what they will ultimately see as being disrespectful or not. And that sentiment could easily be the difference between a huge or disappointing box office. From your description, "just recast and continue with whatever they had planned" sounds like ignoring his death. Throwing a dedication at the beginning won't be enough - I think fans (not to mention his co-stars) are more emotionally tied to Boseman than they are to the movies right now and any announcement of recasting will not be met well imo and that disapproval could taint the film throughout production.

[titanfan]

MCU Shuri just doesn’t seem like she is leading into becoming BP imo. They have portrayed her as a genius level tech guru not a warrior so to me it would seem forced to have her in the suit fighting. Just my opinion...

That's part of the compelling story, is it not? At some point Shuri realizes she isn't as good a fighter or what not as her predecessor and uses her own gifts in her own way to find a way to carry the Black Panther mantle. I think it would be a cool idea to see a superhero use the full technology available to Wakanda to become a stronger Black Panther.

[Steel Inquisitor]

It's obviously a tricky issue because of the emotions of the fans and what they will ultimately see as being disrespectful or not. And that sentiment could easily be the difference between a huge or disappointing box office. From your description, "just recast and continue with whatever they had planned" sounds like ignoring his death.

Productions can honor an actors death while recasting someone worthy of their role. It's not about disrespecting the actor, the actor is a person being Black Panther was just one part of Boseman's life not all of it. Boseman died, not T'Challa. Look at Spartacus: Blood and Sand - Andy Whitfield, the lead actor, died from non-Hodgkins lymphoma between seasons. This was a very hard role to cast but they did it with Liam McIntyre - who honored the role without replacing Whitfield. Honoring someone who died tragically is more than retiring a character they played.

Throwing a dedication at the beginning won't be enough - I think fans (not to mention his co-stars) are more emotionally tied to Boseman than they are to the movies right now and any announcement of recasting will not be met well imo and that disapproval could taint the film throughout production.

Marvel's not going to do anything right now, even without Covid. They'll wait years before announcing anything.

[Largo161]

Recast. The character of T’Challa deserves to live on. We’ll still have the work Boseman gave us to honor remember him by.

[Midvillian1322]

Productions can honor an actors death while recasting someone worthy of their role. It's not about disrespecting the actor, the actor is a person being Black Panther was just one part of Boseman's life not all of it. Boseman died, not T'Challa. Look at Spartacus: Blood and Sand - Andy Whitfield, the lead actor, died from non-Hodgkins lymphoma between seasons. This was a very hard role to cast but they did it with Liam McIntyre - who honored the role without replacing Whitfield. Honoring someone who died tragically is more than retiring a character they played.



Marvel's not going to do anything right now, even without Covid. They'll wait years before announcing anything.

The Spartacus switch never felt right. The actor did a good Job don't get me wrong but he never brought the emotion to the role that Whitfield did. I also think Whitfield woulda went on to become a huge star. I mean Jai Courtney blew up and he didn't stand out nearly as much as Whitfield

[Vakanai]

I want them to get Shuri to take on the mantle... but I might be biased. I mean she's cute.

[XPac]

I want them to get Shuri to take on the mantle... but I might be biased. I mean she's cute.

That's part of the reason I think Letitia would at least get a bit LESS hate than anyone else taking the mantle. There are only so many people who can hate on someone so darn cute.

[LordMikel]

So this exact thing happened many years ago. Back before the internet, so I can only really give first hand knowledge and what I remember.

The Crow came out starring Brandon Lee.
Brandon Lee passed.
They recast for Crow 2 and the movie bombed.

Now I didn't see either movie, I wasn't a fan of the comic, but I did ask one of the fans about Crow 2 and whether it would have done better if Brandon had been able to do it. Which his answer was, "yes it would have been better, they should have simply not bothered with the sequel."

Now I seem to recall they also did a TV show after that, but I think that only lasted a season.

Now question for people who read Black Panther. I know Shuri becomes Black Panther, but doesn't T'Challa eventually reclaim it? Would that have potentially been the movie? T'Challa loses the mantle, Shuri claims it, but then T'Challa reclaims it in the end? Or would it have been a larger arc over many movies?

And a lot of it will come down to, what are the plans for the various movies coming out in the future, beyond what we know.

[MoneySpider]

So this exact thing happened many years ago. Back before the internet, so I can only really give first hand knowledge and what I remember.

The Crow came out starring Brandon Lee.
Brandon Lee passed.
They recast for Crow 2 and the movie bombed.

Now I didn't see either movie, I wasn't a fan of the comic, but I did ask one of the fans about Crow 2 and whether it would have done better if Brandon had been able to do it. Which his answer was, "yes it would have been better, they should have simply not bothered with the sequel."

Now I seem to recall they also did a TV show after that, but I think that only lasted a season.

Now question for people who read Black Panther. I know Shuri becomes Black Panther, but doesn't T'Challa eventually reclaim it? Would that have potentially been the movie? T'Challa loses the mantle, Shuri claims it, but then T'Challa reclaims it in the end? Or would it have been a larger arc over many movies?

And a lot of it will come down to, what are the plans for the various movies coming out in the future, beyond what we know.

I think you've brought up a very good point. Yes, in the comics T'Challa eventually reclaimed his title of Black Panther and reclaimed his title of King of Wakanda, so it will look weird if Shuri becomes the permanent ruler of Wakanda in the MCU. Every time T'Challa loses his kingdom for whatever reason, he eventually regains it.

And as for that fan's comment on The Crow 2...personally I just feel as though that was just his opinion, and it's just one opinion, and other people might have felt their were other reasons why the movie failed. Maybe a lot of of people who saw that movie didn't like the plot or something. I would love to know why everyone else involved in the production of that movie, and those who saw the movie, thought it failed. (I also wonder how many people actually liked that movie).

[XPac]

So this exact thing happened many years ago. Back before the internet, so I can only really give first hand knowledge and what I remember.

The Crow came out starring Brandon Lee.
Brandon Lee passed.
They recast for Crow 2 and the movie bombed.

Now I didn't see either movie, I wasn't a fan of the comic, but I did ask one of the fans about Crow 2 and whether it would have done better if Brandon had been able to do it. Which his answer was, "yes it would have been better, they should have simply not bothered with the sequel."

Now I seem to recall they also did a TV show after that, but I think that only lasted a season.

Now question for people who read Black Panther. I know Shuri becomes Black Panther, but doesn't T'Challa eventually reclaim it? Would that have potentially been the movie? T'Challa loses the mantle, Shuri claims it, but then T'Challa reclaims it in the end? Or would it have been a larger arc over many movies?

And a lot of it will come down to, what are the plans for the various movies coming out in the future, beyond what we know.

The one aspect I'm NOT worried about here is Black Panther 2 potentially bombing. Two dozen movies into the franchise and no MCU movie has bombed thus far... I very much doubt that BP 2 will be the first.

One interesting aspect to consider here is that Boseman allegedly only had a 5 movie deal. Which means BP2 in theory might have been his last MCU appearance even if he had not died. So they might already have a plan in place to either recast or make Shuri BP anyways... that plan just would have needed to have been moved up one movie since Boseman obviously can't be in BP2 now (unless they use a stunt double in a suit and maybe some CG1 ala Carrie Fisher or Paul Walker).

And Shuri was BP in the comics before T'Challa got it back. In general marvel legacy characters NEVER keep mantiles indefinately (same applied to Jane and Sam in comics... though rules might be different in the MCU). So that's one option for them to have their cake and eat it too... follow the comics EXACTLY and make Shuri BP now, and have a recased T'Challa take it back down the line when maybe Bosemans death won't be as much of an issue.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

Recasting makes the most sense. The character is simply too big and too important for the culture. The Crow didn't have that going for it, and honestly neither did Heath Ledger's Joker. Black Panther as a character makes everyday people feel empowered in a way those performances don't, as great and as iconic as they may be.

Black Panther was also just starting out. The context is also different from not recasting Iron Man after a 10+ year story finale.

[batnbreakfast]

The Crow comics are like an anthology with different Crows in different eras but I enjoyed only Eric Draven's part. I don't think the sequel bombed because of Brandon Lee's accident. It bombed because like many sequels it was made with all the love and care of Catwoman (the Halle Berry one).

Am I the only one who doesn't like Shuri? She didn't have much of a personality annoying little sister/tech girl aside. Bring back Killmonger as BP (that would be like making Bane Batman). In the comics he was brought back from the dead as well.