Marvel Won’t Recast Black Panther; Plots ‘Fantastic Four’ Reboot; Casts Christian Bale in ‘Thor 4’
http://variety.com/2020/film/news/marvel-black-panther-fantastic-four-reboot-casts-christian-bale-thor-4-1234851345/
This is what happens of course when you make the world around the character, including his supporting cast and what not, as big or bigger than the character himself. I’ve said before that the first BP movie did not center enough on TChalla and pretty much made him superfluous, with Shuri being the leader in tech, Okoye being its greatest warrior, Nakia being the activist, and all else. They made Chadwick and his performance bigger than the actual character, and did not show enough why TCHALLA needs to be the Black Panther. They made Wakanda and his supporting cast as big if not BIGGER than the lead character. Most of the writers currently and recently even in the comics have focused on Wakanda as a whole and not so much on TChalla. (With a notable exception being Aaron in Avengers) And now? This is an excuse to move forward with other characters and with the “culture” of Wakanda without TChalla. Because at the end of the day, despite however one may see Boseman’s performance, TChalla the character was made to be not so necessary to Wakanda and the franchise.
They could never do this with Stark because they made Stark the reason why the iron man armor, Stark Industries, everything, existed. Steve Rogers IS Captain America. But in BP, they took so much away from the character to despense to other characters. This wasn’t done with any other movie character. And as some people have been saying online “anyone can be the Black Panther”. TChalla is unnecessary. Of course, all the “respect to Boseman” hand wringing covers up the fact that they don’t see TChalla as necessary and rendered him as such in the movie. I mean, Shuri had to tell him how to release energy from his suit? Nakia had to inspire him to help others outside of Wakanda? Okoye had to tell him not to “freeze” as if he’s a simple lovesick schoolboy?
The movie, while good in many ways, made TChalla unnecessary, and this decision not to recast is the fruits of that. When people are talking about the actor MORE than the character itself, you’ve failed to give much to the character or make said character the necessary focus
Definitely agree with a lot of what you're saying here. Any comic book character, most especially those that have been around for decades, are 'bigger' than the actors who play them, even those who give what many might consider definitive performances like Boseman, Christopher Reeve, or Wesley Snipes.
The issue you had with how T'Challa was made sort of unnecessary in his film was one I had as well. I thought T'Challa had a better outing in Civil War. He was formidable, relentless, and cunning. But in his own film he often had to share space or take a backseat to other characters in ways that made his character less important to the goings on. In Civil War he got to be one of those dynamic characters and perhaps got such a role in order to sell him to the audience. But in his own film, it's like they wanted to also sell the supporting cast and Wakanda, the idea and the nation. I'm just glad they twisted the story back around by the end to make it where only T'Challa could defeat Killmonger.
When I was looking at Fiege going over all the upcoming MCU stuff what he said about Mr. Boseman's take on the character, as surpassing (my words) all over versions didn't sit well with me. No disrespect to Boseman, but I liked Priest and Hudlin's takes on the characters, especially the Machiavellian Panther of Priest's run, a lot more than the MCU depiction. Though I imagine that millions around the world were first introduced to the character through Boseman and the BP film, that alone, as well as its popular doesn't supersede the other takes on the character IMO. Cloaking the decision to not recast in that kind of language is a bit suspect to me, even though I get it, and have argued for not recasting myself to honor what Boseman brought to the role and perhaps to teach a lesson to all of the young BP viewers about the fragility of life. But I've never thought that Boseman's take was the definitive one. As much as I love Christopher Reeve's Superman, I can't even say his is the definitive one, though I definitely love what he did. In time I've come to accept most of the others who put on the cape and I also think in time many can also do the same if T'Challa was recast.
The big issue here is though is that black characters don't get those kind of second and third chances much, and so I can understand the trepidation that not recasting T'Challa might mean him being sidelined for a long time or written all the way out of his own franchises.
