Marvel Won’t Use a Digital Double for Chadwick Boseman in ‘Black Panther 2’
When production on “Black Panther 2” gets rolling in 2021 (fingers crossed), one thing for sure is that Marvel Studios will not use a digital double for the late Chadwick Boseman.
“No. There’s only one Chadwick and he’s not with us,” Marvel Studios EVP Vicotria Alonso said in a new interview with Argentinian outlet Clarin. “Our king, unfortunately, has died in real life, not just in fiction, and we are taking a little time to see how we return to history and what we do to honor this chapter of what has happened to us that was so unexpected, so painful, so terrible, really.”
Alonso also talked about what Boseman’s portrayal of King T’Challa meant for Marvel.
“Because Chadwick was not only a wonder of a human being every day for the five years that we spent together, but it also seems to me that as a character what he did elevated us as a company, and has left his moment in history. I know that sometimes two months go by or three months go by in production and you say, well, it was a long time. But it is not a long time, we have to think carefully about what we are going to do, and how, and think about how we are going to honor the franchise,” Alonso added.
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Boseman died in late August of cancer at the age of 43. In a statement, Boseman’s family disclosed that he was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016 and had been quietly battling the disease ever since.
In the four years after his diagnosis, which came just after his star-making first appearance as T’Challa/Black Panther in “Captain America: Civil War,” Boseman endured what his family said were “countless surgeries and chemotherapy,” while still managing to star in seven films. Among those productions were “Marshall,” “21 Bridges,” and, of course, the Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters “Black Panther,” “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.”
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