During Marvel’s big Phase Three announcement, Chadwick Boseman was announced as having secured the role of T’Challa in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making his debut in Captain America: Civil War before headling his own Black Panther movie (and presumably reprising the role for the two-part Avengers: Infinity War). Speaking to EW, the Get On Up star has spoken about his upcoming turn in the MCU, and how the casting came about:
“I wasn’t, like, a [comic book] fanatic. I definitely read comic books, but this particular character was not someone that I knew very well until the last 10 years or so. I’d heard of him, but I hadn’t really been like I’m a huge Black Panther fan. I think once you get into the film business, though, you start thinking about things that would be really cool to do, and then I fell in love with [the character]. For me, that’s going to be the case for most people who watch it, for most people who see this character emerge inside the Marvel world. And it’s the right time for it, at the end of the day. It’s the right time for the character to emerge and to have his own life, so I’m really, really excited for it. And I just feel it can be done the right way right now.
Asked how long he’d known that he had the role prior to the announcement, Bosewick responded, “Not even a month. The real official conversations happened really quickly. I think there were rumors out there, but those were rumors. Maybe that’s a form of conversation, but it wasn’t an actual conversation, if that makes any sense… It wasn’t really an audition process. It was more of a discussion about what they wanted to do and how I saw it and what I wanted to do. It was more of a feeling out process and they’re really smart. I can’t talk too much about it—the only thing I can say is that they are smarter than you think they are.”
Captain America: Civil War opens May 6th 2016, with Black Panther set for release on November 3rd 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=04xXFwCEzkk&list=PL18yMRIfoszH_jfuJoo8HCG1-lGjvfH2F
Originally published November 20, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
