If you are like me on August 28, 2020, you were shocked to hear the devastating news of the passing of one of this decade’s finest actors Chadwick Boseman. At the time of writing this, I am still seeing various posts and messages talking about at the age of 43 years old this man lived a fantastic life and meant something to so many people. Whether you know him from his massive presence in the MCU as Black Panther or some of his more artistic roles like Da 5 Bloods or Marshall, it is undeniable to think of the impact he had on the film industry and especially as a young black actor during these times of grief where people of color consistently get knocked down.
I would like to start off by talking about when I first experienced Boseman, being in 42 where he played one of the greatest baseball players of all-time being Jackie Robinson.
Now to this day I still remember seeing the trailer in the theater and thinking to myself, this guy is giving so much to this performance, little did I know that was just the start of my admiration for him and his rise to A-lister status.
From then on, I would hear his name time and time again always thinking to myself, “WOW, I am glad to see this guy is still acting.” One of the times that I remember vividly was when my mother and I were going to the theater in 2016 to watch Zootopia and I saw the Gods of Egypt (bad movie, but great Boseman performance) walking in, and we decided to make it a double feature day and that ended up being my first Boseman performance on the big screen, but little did I know that in a few months I would have watched the film that would eventually shoot him to superstardom and change the lives of many black kids who wanted to see themselves as superheroes, I am talking about Captain America: Civil War.
Now the impact of the Civil War is undeniable for the entire comic book genre as a whole, but specifically for Boseman.
With this being the Russo’s second outing in making an MCU film (who would go on to work with Boseman outside the MCU with 21 Bridges) and the anticipation being high for Civil War as we were getting two fan favorites being Spider-man and Black Panther into the MCU, everyone was hyped and one thing almost everyone can agree on was. Chadwick Boseman’s performance was incredible, and now we know that only a few weeks after the release of the Civil War he would be diagnosed with cancer (diagnosed in June 2016). During this time, you could probably imagine the fear running through his head, shortly after his big break and multiple headlining titles coming up he could soon die of cancer.
Luckily, he persisted and continued to fight to give us roles like Thurgood Marshall and Jacob King.
Now we come to my favorite part of the story: the release of Black Panther, YOU CAN NOT DESCRIBE THE HYPE AROUND THE WORLD WHEN THIS CAME OUT! I remember lines outside the door at my local AMC and so many people being filled with joy and glee as they saw it.
I remember going to school and my Network Systems Teacher (who doesn’t watch movies) told us she saw Black Panther 3 times over the weekend.
On top of breaking racial barriers in the comic book genre, it also broke financial records breaking into the top 10 worldwide releases of all time, and if that is not enough it broke awards barriers and it is very well known that the Oscars do not take comic book films seriously but Black Panther was so good that it snagged a Best Picture nomination making it the very first comic book film to get a nomination for best picture, not to mention it also one 3 major technical awards at the Oscars (Score, Production Design, and Costume Design).
Furthermore, these achievements are even more incredible when you realize that he did this all while fighting stage 4 colon cancer, cancer that will ruin your muscles and affect your quality of life but Chadwick Boseman did not let that hinder his performance in the film.
Boseman went on to star in multiple other films including Da 5 Bloods, 21 Bridges, and 2 more MCU films being Infinity War and Endgame.
He lived a bountiful life and continued to fight through his disease and the craziness in the world, he encouraged others when he had the chance, used his platform for good, and left an impact on the world.
So, what’s coming up, well his final fully completed performance will be in Netflix’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, starring Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis. With this, there were also multiple other projects they had down the pipeline which may be put on hold for a while including the heavily anticipated Black Panther 2.
What we should really take away from this retrospective is that we should be a little more like Boseman, he was a fantastic actor with lots of promise for the future, and his life was taken too soon by illness. There was so much to come from Chadwick Boseman, but during his career, he played several iconic figures and approached those roles with humility and gratitude. He became a hero and a role model to many and was by all accounts a wonderful person.
Rest Easy King. We will not forget you or the impact you had on this world.
Kyle Kazembe
