Long Live The King: The Case For Recasting “Black Panther”

I feel only the deepest sympathy for Chadwick Boseman’s family, and while it might seem precipitous to discuss “what comes next?” for the Black Panther franchise, I think it inevitable that the Internet has already been flooded with opinions.

The two major choices seem to be: Shall we recast the role? Or promote his brilliant sister Shuri to that role, as happened in the later comics? (After 40 years of T’Challa tales).

I don’t know what Chadwick thought on his deathbed. Or what his spirit might think of the question now. I can only say that if it were me, and I had seen the sheer delirious pleasure felt by Black Americans experiencing King T’Challa’s ascendance…I would want to separate the myth from the man: all men die, but the myths must live on. To start that flame was the honor. Others can now feed it, keep it alive. Carry it to victory.

And I want to give my thoughts on why recasting is, from my perspective, the best of non-optimal choices. NO MATTER WHAT is done here, the results will be bittersweet at best. But they can also be transcendent, triumphant.

The King is dead. Long live the King.

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The “Black Panther” comic character was created in July 1966 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, in specific answer to the question: where are the black superheroes? While there had been some minor creations before that point, having Marvel’s flagship characters The Fantastic Four dazzled by the…