‘Black Panther’ star Chadwick Boseman Passes Away Due To Colon Cancer At 43

Chadwick Boseman, who was in his 40s, had not mentioned publicly his illness — first diagnosed in 2016 — and continued to work on big Hollywood movies.

Boseman became the first black superhero to make his own stand-alone film in the record-breaking “Black Panther” Marvel franchise in 2018. 

The film, set in the fictional African kingdom of Wakanda, has been adored by critics and audiences, becoming the first comic book film to be nominated for Best Picture in the Oscars and amassing more than $1 billion worldwide. 

Boseman played black icons, Jackie Robinson, in “42” and James Brown in “Get on Up” earlier in his career.

His death was confirmed in a tweet from his official account, as well as revealing that Boseman had been fighting colon cancer.

He was diagnosed with stage three of the disease four years ago and quietly fought the disease as it progressed towards stage four, before finally succumbing to it today. This is a horrible loss, not just to fans of his Marvel franchise, but to fans of high-quality actors and good human beings in general.

Boseman was just starting out in Hollywood, too. It’s a sad bit of irony that he passed on Jackie Robinson Day in Major League Baseball after having played him in the recent biopic. There’s not much to say right now, because it’s such a shock, but he’s going to be so much missed in the industry. Don’t worry about the MCU or anything like that, because the most important thing is that a young life has been snuffed out. It’s another tragedy in 2020 when bad news just keeps accumulating.