Chadwick Boseman Gave Us Something We Had Not Had Before
He brought King T’Challa to life in a way that transfixed the world and spoke uniquely to Black Americans.
CLINT SMITH/ The Atlantic
What I’ll always remember about the first time I saw the film
Black Panther are the costumes that people wore. It was a chilly night in Washington, D.C., and almost everyone in the theater was Black. Children dressed as Shuri, white dots of paint tracing the contours of their face, plastic Vibranium Gauntlets strapped to their arms. Boys and girls who’d gotten their hair cut into the quintessential style of Killmonger, black twists dangling at their temple. And there were, of course, those dressed as King T’Challa himself. People of every age and gender donned the black mask of the Black Panther, with its sharp, symmetrical silver lines; the hard-bodied top that enhanced the torso; the spiky necklace that gleamed under the light of the theater lobby. I remember how when people in costumes crossed paths with one another, they crossed their arms over their chest and said “Wakanda forever” with equal parts conviction and delight.
T’Challa as the Black Panther had existed as a comic-book superhero since Stan Lee and Jack Kirby conceived of him in 1966. But it was Chadwick Boseman who brought the fictional Wakandan monarch and superhero to the big screen, whose exceptional talent gave new life to the groundbreaking character and transfixed a global audience. Boseman’s steady disposition and even-temperedness filtered into the role of a king who was guided as much by his moral center as by his physical strength. It became difficult to see Boseman without thinking of the Black Panther, without wanting to
thank him for giving us something we had not had before.
He brought King T’Challa to life in a way that transfixed the world and spoke uniquely to Black Americans.
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