The Black Panther Dead at 43

Chadwick Boseman, the actor known for playing iconic roles such as Jackie Robinson in 42, James Brown in Get On Up, Thurgood Marshall in Marshall, and his most iconic and game-changing role to date, T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther, has died on Friday, August 28th after a private battle with colon cancer. He was 43.

According to a post on his official Twitter account, Boseman was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016, and battled with it for four years as it progressed to stage IV.

Despite the devastating challenge, he persevered through it all, and brought audiences worldwide films that have come to be regarded as beloved by many. The post on his official twitter account states that from Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and several more, all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy. It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther.

According to CBS News Boseman graduated from Howard University and starred in various television shows in the early 2000s before getting the star role as Jackie Robinson, the first Black person to play in Major League Baseball in the 2013 film 42. (Imdb) Other critically-acclaimed roles followed, however it was his role in Black Panther that made him a global star and cultural icon.

It was a role and a film that he took very seriously. “I look back and realize that Chad knew something we all didn’t. He was playing the long game. All while putting in the work. And work he did,” as detailed in Black Panther director Ryan Coogler’s tribute written to commemorate Boseman’s tragic passing and what the young actor meant to him and so many others.

Many celebrities, such as Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Viola Davis, Angela Bassett, and many of his other Black Panther co-stars and beyond, made statements reflecting on how admired and loved he was as an actor and overall person.

He is survived by his wife.