Chadwick Boseman: The Man Who Would Be King
It’s a rarity when an entertainer can make such an indelible Impression on so many people in such a short amount of time and at such a young age. But in the span of seven years, Chadwick Boseman went from a promising young lead portraying Jackie Robinson in the sports biopic “42” to breaking new grounds in the ever-growing world of superhero epics as King T’Challa in “Black Panther.” An icon. A hero. A legend. And now, at the age of 43, Mr. Boseman is gone. Taken from this world by the unforgiving hand of colon cancer. A disease Boseman fought privately and chose not to disclose about in public for four years.
I’m truly at a loss with this one. When someone is so famous and are still so fresh in your mind, it’s hard to process. That’s really the most amazing thing about Chadwick Boseman: he was still so young. So many looked up to him.
Boseman studied theatre arts at Howard University in Washington, D.C. under actress Phylicia Rashad, who became his mentor and aided in his study at the prestigious British American Drama Academy in London. Boseman continued to study and pursue acting in New York before finally moving to Los Angeles, where his career began.
As I mentioned, Boseman first made his mark playing baseball legend Jackie Robinson, before moving on to roles ranging from small to medium in blockbusters to smaller dramas. He delivered outstanding performances as the titular young lawyer before he made Supreme Court Justice in “Marshall,” then another icon in the form of James Brown in “Get On Up,” and, just this past year, as a platoon leader in the Spike Lee-directed Vietnam War adventure-drama “Da 5 Bloods.” Each character Boseman portrayed onscreen was different from the last. His work was always honest and vulnerable, while his screen presence managed to be both commanding and charismatic. He had the makings of a true movie star and one of the great actors of this generation.
However, it was a Marvel comic character named T’Challa, the young king of a hidden African nation called Wakanda who defends his people and the world as the masked hero known as “Black Panther,” that made him a recongizable figure of film history, comic book history, and black culture. If his previous films made him a star, his role as T’Challa in four different Marvel Cinematic Universe films made him an instant icon. The film itself was a massive hit, grossing over $1 Billion worldwide and receiving several Oscar nominations, becoming the first ever superhero film to be nominated for Best Picture. Boseman became a hero to many who were proud and joyful to finally see their race and their culture represented in a mainstream film. The film and his performance broke down barriers.
And now he’s gone. It’s easy to be cynical, especially in such a cynical day and age. Some might demeaningly dismiss him as “just another actor” or “another casualty of 2020,” but this is a real loss and speak otherwise is only demeaning to the memory of a great man. This man did so much in such a short amount of time. A hero to so many. An icon for all time. Long live the king.
