BY DC CUEVA
A week ago last Friday night after two political conventions of completely polar opposites and as protests have erupted yet again in this country, we were saddened again by how cruel this year of 2020 has been. An upside to all of the madness that has been going on in this world has been of the now ubiquitous presence of the Black Lives Matter movement and increasing awareness of African-Americans and persons of color during this summer of upheaval both here at home and overseas.
Usually, summers like these would be where the box office and movieplexes everywhere would be jam packed every weekend as the biggest films and stars take over the big screen while the sun is baking outside. But the film industry, like other parts of the entertainment world, have been deeply affected by the global pandemic, and it has backtracked most of this year's most highly anticipated films until next year. That includes the big-name superhero movies that have become a global phenomenon in the past decade, led by the characters who make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The film blazed its way into theaters in February 2018 over a quarter-century after discussions of a possible film adaptation of the Black Panther comic was first discussed with Wesley Snipes many years before, but it never got beyond the planning phases. But it was later revived as part of the first wave of films developed by Marvel that would become the biggest and most lucrative movie franchise ever and solidifying the company's leadership in the comic book business.
The character itself made his movie debut in 2014's Captain America: Civil War with Chadwick Boseman playing that role before taking on the task of leading the first MCU film with a predominantly black cast and African-American director Ryan Coogler leading production efforts, and with it dropping during Black History Month. Black Panther made over $1.3 billion at the box office to place it among the top ten grossing films ever, was shortlisted by critics & organizations as among 2018's top movies, and won the franchise's first Academy Award.
This role was the crowning moment for Boseman, who also appeared in the final two installments of the Avengers movies, Infinity War and Endgame, following his Black Panther role that netted him a Screen Actors Guild Award and an NAACP Image Award. Having first studied directing at Howard University, the native South Carolinian then took to the front of the camera in numerous TV roles in regular and guesting roles before landing his breakthrough role playing the man who broke baseball's color barrier, Jackie Robinson, in 2013's 42. He also portrayed two other prominent figures in Black history, the "Godfather of Soul" James Brown and Supreme Court judge Thurgood Marshall, in two later bio-pics, along with playing an NFL prospect in Draft Day, and playing a cop in last year's 21 Bridges.
Watching all these roles, moviegoers and viewers had absolutely no idea that while he gave us standout performances on screen, Boseman was fighting an internal battle inside. After his supporting role in Civil War in 2016, he was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer and four years later it gradually progressed to stage IV. Yet while going through years of treatment, surgeries and chemo, Chadwick chose to not make his diagnosis public as it would take the spotlight off of his outstanding work. But it was last Friday with his wife, singer Taylor Simone Ledward and his family by his side, that Boseman took his last breath and lost that last battle with cancer at the age of 43.
The Twitter post that announced his passing overtook Ellen Degeneres' famous Oscar selfie and other notable posts on the social media platform as the most retweeted and favored post ever with 3.1 million RT's and 7.7 million likes more than a week after Boseman's death. Understandably, so many actors, celebrities and people like yourselves, as well as former President Obama and Vice President & Democratic nominee Joe Biden, paid tribute to Chadwick in the hours and days after his death. Last Sunday, ABC aired a world broadcast premiere of the Black Panther movie commercial-free, while NBA players in the Orlando bubble also paid respects to Boseman before their playoff games.
Also last Sunday night, MTV dedicated this year's all-virtual installment of the Video Music Awards in his honor, and it was two years ago in 2018 that Black Panther was nominated for seven golden popcorn statuettes at the annual kickoff of the summer blockbuster season, the MTV Movie & TV Awards. The film won four awards that night, including Movie of the Year and two for Boseman in Best Actor and Best Hero. And the passing of that year's biggest superhero touches deeply two members of the MTV family and the youngest member of one of its biggest franchises.
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| Twitter @CodiButts/@KirkMedas |
When word of Boseman's passing circulated around the social sphere last weekend, someone who grew up in the same region of the state where Chadwick grew up in Anderson, SC just outside of Clemson University, Codi Butts paid tribute to his fallen fellow South Carolinian: "I am so saddened to hear of the passing of @chadwickboseman you will truly be missed." And his fellow castmate Kirk Medas chimed in, "RIP @chadwickboseman‼️ although you def didn’t want this pic from the looks of it you def made my experience. One of my fav superheroes. This is crazy."
And Codi and Kirk accompanied those two remembrances of Chadwick Boseman with posting selfie pictures of them with the Black Panther in the audience when they got meet up with other fellow celebrities at the 2018 MTV Awards... just a couple in the millions of tributes paid to an incredible person who will be missed.
RIP @chadwickboseman ‼️ although you def didn’t want this pic from the looks of it you def made my experience. One of my fav superheroes. This is crazy pic.twitter.com/jTEl8YFHH6— Kirk Medas (@KirkMedas) August 29, 2020
- I AM DC
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