Social media recently went abuzz as several users registered their displeasure with a report claiming that White actor Ryan Gosling had been tapped by Marvel to recast the Black Panther.
In the first movie, Chadwick Boseman was initially cast as T’Challa and the Black Panther – the Black superhero and king of the fictional African country of Wakanda. But after he sadly passed away in August 2020, Marvel announced it was not going to recast King T’Challa in the Black Panther sequel.
Boseman’s co-star, Letitia Wright, who played his sister Shuri in the first installment, was ultimately cast as the Black Panther in the sequel. It also appears Marvel has no plans to cast Gosling, 44, as the Black Panther as TMZ reported that an insider with direct knowledge said those rumors were untrue. The insider also said the Barbie star had not even been considered.
The rumors in question started making waves online after a 2018 photoshopped image of Gosling as the Black Panther was circulated again. The image was initially circulated by people to protest Disney’s casting of Black actors in projects whose characters were originally White.
So the rumors of Gosling being cast as the Black Panther got some people feeling the movie was going to lose its original script and cultural value. But it appears that will not happen.
The yet-to-be-released Avengers: Doomsday will see Wright reprising her role as the Black Panther. Gosling, on the other hand, has been tapped to star in Star Wars: Starfighter.
Following Boseman’s death, several Black Panther fans petitioned Marvel to recast King T’Challa, Face2Face Africa reported in 2021. In an interview with TMZ, Chadwick’s older brother, Derrick Boseman, also said the deceased actor would totally be in support of another actor taking up the superhero role he made famous.
Derrick said Chadwick would have approved a King T’Challa recast as his late brother felt the character was much bigger than just him. Derrick said Chadwick was well aware of the overwhelmingly positive influence and power the character yielded, so Marvel killing that role in the wake of his brother’s death would seemingly strip Black children of a role model.
Derrick also told TMZ that with Black children not being exposed to many positive influences, Marvel had the opportunity to play its part in filling that void by recasting King T’Challa – a character he described as a “symbol of Black people’s potential.”
And though Derrick clarified that Chadwick never stated he wanted the character he once played to be recast, he said he was sure his late brother would approve of bringing King T’Challa back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
