Chadwick Boseman won’t be brought back via CGI for Black Panther 2, Marvel confirms

‘We have to think about how we are going to honour the franchise,’ said Marvel’s executive vice president

Marvel Studios has confirmed there are no plans to use a digital body double for the late Chadwick Boseman in the planned Black Panther sequel.

Boseman died of colon cancer in August at the age of 43. 

Disney, the company that owns Marvel Studios, has previously used CGI effects to simulate a performance by the late Peter Cushing  in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and used CGI to enhance existing footage of the late Carrie Fisher in Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker.

Victoria Alonso, the executive vice president of Marvel Studios, addressed speculation that CGI could be used to replicate Bosesman’s performance in the planned sequel to the 2018 hit Black Panther.

Speaking to Clarin, Alonso said: “No. There’s only one Chadwick, and he’s not with us.

“Our king, unfortunately, has died in real life, not just in fiction, and we are taking a little time to see how we return to history and what we do to honour this chapter of what has happened to us that was so unexpected, so painful, so terrible, really.”

While it has been suggested by some fans that Shuri, the Black Panther character played by Letitia Wright, could step in to take the place the Wakandan hero T’Challa, Alonso stated that the studio has not yet decided how to approach a sequel.

“Chadwick was not only a wonder,” she said, “but it also seems to me that as a character what he did elevated us as a company, and has left his moment in history. 

“I know that sometimes two months go by or three months go by in production and one says, already, it was a long time. But it is not a long time, we have to think carefully about what we are going to do, and how, and think about how we are going to honour the franchise.”

Boseman’s final acting role, in the film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, is set to premiere on Netflix on 18 December.