There Are Many Reasons to Call Chadwick Boseman's 'Black Panther' Who Died as a True Warrior

Chadwick Boseman (Instagram/@Chadwickboseman)

JAKARTA - Black Panther's Chadwick Boseman died on Friday, August 28. The King of Wakanda had been battling colon cancer since 2016.

Nicki Fioravante, the representative of the Boseman family, said that the actor died at his home at the age of 43, accompanied by his wife and family.  In 2016, Boseman learned that he had stage 3 colon cancer, which had progressed to stage 4.

During his illness, Boseman never disclosed it to the public. He always looked healthy. Work after, work he finished with pain, which he shut tightly.

"A true warrior, Chadwick survived it all and brought you so many films that you love. From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and a few others. All of them were filmed during his many surgeries and chemotherapy," said Fioravante on the Boseman Instagram account, quoted from Variety, Saturday, August 29.

Boseman's Life

Boseman was born and raised in Anderson, SC, the youngest of three children. His mother, Carolyn, was a nurse. His father, Leroy, worked for an agricultural conglomerate and had a side business as an upholstery.

His role models were her two brothers Derrick, the oldest, a preacher in Tennessee; and Kevin, a dancer with the group Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey, and toured with the stage adaptation of The Lion King.

When it came to college, Boseman chose an arts program at Howard University, with a dream of becoming a director. At Howard, he took acting classes with Tony Award-winning actress and director, Phylicia Rashad, who helped him enter an elite theater program at Oxford University. It was an adventure, that he later learned, had been funded by his friend, Denzel Washington.

To earn a living, Boseman taught acting at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. After college, he moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, where he spent his days in coffee shops, playing chess, and writing plays as a director. Boseman was a true believer in hip-hop and pan-African theology.

As the Black Panther

Boseman was best known for his role as T'Challa, or Black Panther, the king of the fictional African nation of Wakanda in the 2018 Marvel superhero film Black Panther.

It was the first major superhero film with an African protagonist, the first to start a mostly black cast and Ryan Coogler. Also, the first to hire a black writer and director.

"Chadwick's death was utterly devastating. He was our T'Challa, our Black Panther, and our best friend. Every time he stepped onto the set, he radiated charisma and joy. And every time he appeared on screen, he created something wonderful," said Marvel Studios president and chief creative officer of Marvel, Kevin Feige. 

"He embodied many extraordinary people in his work, and nothing was better at bringing great people to life. He was smart and kind. Now he took his place with them as an icon through the centuries. The Marvel Studios family is deeply saddened by his loss. And we are grieving tonight with his family," added Feige.

Previously, Feige had announced the second film of the "Black Panther" saga, which will hit theaters in May 2022. Not only starring in Black Panther.  Boseman also played James Brown in getting On Up and played Jackie Robinson in film 42.

He also played on the television screens of Law & Order, CSI: NY, and Cold Case, and ended up playing back in the same roles on the ABC Family series and Lincoln Heights.