Departing Marvel Executive Claims Black Panther Is Not Being Recast
Outgoing Marvel executive Nate Moore recently claimed that rumors regarding Black Panther being recast are not true.
Last month, scooper Jeff Sneider alleged that Marvel “plans to recast the role of T’challa five years after Chadwick Boseman’s death.”
Boseman passed away in August 2020 at the age of 43 after a four-year battle with colon cancer. Following Boseman’s death Marvel Studios chose not to recast the character and instead killed the character off screen and had Shuri replace him as Black Panther.
Moore spoke with ComicBook.com where he claimed there is no truth to Sneider’s claim that T’Challa is being recast.
He said, “The truth is, there’s no truth to those rumors. Never say never to anything, we haven’t really had a lot of creative conversations with Ryan Coogler yet, because he’s finishing his film Sinners, which comes out this year.”
“We’ll get into it later this year, but everything you read online is not true, if for no other reason than we just haven’t started [working on it],” he added.
Marvel Studios originally announced back in 2020 during Disney’s Investor Day Presentation. that it would not recast the character.
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige said, “I wanted to acknowledge the devastating loss of a dear friend and member of the Marvel Studios family. Chadwick Boseman was an immensely talented actor and an inspirational individual, who affected all of our lives professionally and personally.”
“His portrayal of T’Challa, the Black Panther, is iconic and transcends any iteration of the character in any other medium from Marvel’s past. And it’s for that reason that we will not recast the character,” he added.
Feige also explained to Empire back in September 2022, “It just felt like it was much too soon to recast. “Stan Lee always said that Marvel represents the world outside your window. And we had talked about how, as extraordinary and fantastical as our characters and stories are, there’s a relatable and human element to everything we do. The world is still processing the loss of Chad. And Ryan poured that into the story.”
He added, “The conversations were entirely about, yes, ‘What do we do next?’ “And how could the legacy of Chadwick – and what he had done to help Wakanda and the Black Panther become these incredible, aspirational, iconic ideas – continue? That’s what it was all about.”
It was announced in December that Moore would be leaving Marvel Studios sometime around March 2025.
Deadline reported, “Nate Moore will depart Marvel Studios and transition to producing [outside of Marvel] in early 2025.”
While Moore is leaving in early 2025, he will stay at the studio until March following the release of Captain America: Brave New World. He is also producing a third Black Panther film.
Moore said in a statement, “Nearly everything I know about producing I’ve learned from my time at Marvel Studios. I feel lucky to have worked with a group of people who love filmmaking and storytelling as much as my Marvel colleagues and the cast and crew of our films.”
“But I couldn’t be more excited to apply my experience and passion for film towards theatrical movies in all genres, including returning to the world of Wakanda for Black Panther 3,” he concluded.
What do you make of Moore’s comments?
A third Black Panther movie? Talk about reinforcing failure.