Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige says ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ is a “tribute” to the late Chadwick Boseman.
The actor played the title role in the 2018 superhero film ‘Black Panther’ but died of colon cancer in 2020 at the age of 43 and now Kevin, 49, has said that the upcoming sequel must serve as a testament to what the tragic star “brought to the world.”
He told ETOnline: “It’s a very important thing that ‘Wakanda Forever’ not only brings the same level of joy and inspiration that the first ‘Black Panther’ film did, but it also is a tribute to what he did, and what he brought not to just to us, but to the world.”
The upcoming action thriller will also see Lupita Nyong’o return to her role of supervilliain Nakia , while Letitia Wright takes on the leading role of princess Shuri and both actresses explained that they want to “carry on” the legacy left behind by Chadwick.
Letitia said: “It’s definitely a family, it was a family from the very beginning. The family has extended a little bit, we have new members, but like Lupita said, it’s a great alignment of souls and people who really care and people who really want to honor the legacy that we are trying to carry on of what Chadwick started, and we’re really just grateful to have each other.”
Their thoughts were echoed by co-star Winston Duke – who takes on the role of M’Baku in the film – as he noted that the “magic” in the movie is rooted in the sense of family
He said: “The magic of ‘Black Panther’ is really deeply rooted in the sense of family and the collective/ And the collective gets to express the individual — the individual pain, the individual trials, the individual, things that they go through. Art really reflects life here, life really reflects the art. So, you get to see us as a collective, expressing our individual grief over losing one of our cohorts, one of our collaborators and a really great friend. And it was very emotional.”
Marvel Studios recently unveiled their schedule for Phase Five and part of Phase Six, including two new ‘Avengers’ movies.
During the presentation, the ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ introduction kicked off with dancers and drummers accompanying musicians Baaba Maal and Massamba Diop, before director Ryan Coogler shared a story about his first appearance at Comic-Con alongside late star Chadwick Boseman.
‘Black Panther’ is set for release in on November 11.
