It's not impossible, that belief is part of the problem
They have a new Batman every 3 years Dead actors get recast all the time
Boseman's passing is definitely sad, and I wouldn't take that sadness from anyone, but black folks definitely put Feige between a rock and a hard place with the threat of a riot if T'Challa was recast
And what's the alternative? A boy who's a literal prince being raised in secrecy by his mama in Haiti think of how infuriating that shyt would be to find out as an adult that you've always been a king raising me in these fukkin slums
Replace Chadwick with Chiwetel, Idris, Mahershala, Trevante, etc... and Black Panther (2018)
still does 1.3 billion.
The reality is Chad was a very good actor and an even better person by all accounts, but he was never a box office star before BP or after BP. It was the IP, not the actor. In real time, ppl were saying he was the most boring part of the movie (which i argued against) and were glorifying Shuri and Killmonger.
I touched on this a while back but when it comes to white IPs it sometimes feels like white folks are a bit more.. pragmatic? big picture thinking? idk what the right word is.
...whereas with black folks, note what we've seen in this Blade thread alone, since inception:
- "If it ain't 60 year old Wesley, I don't want it. It'd be disrespectful."
- "Marvel doesn't have a plan, just cancel the movie."
- "Maershallah actually wants Blade to be iconic?? He doesn't get the character."
We ain't had a Blade move in
20 years, yet the black IP gotta combat strangulation not just from white execs but from the black fanbase
Not to mention hollywood writers apparently trying to waiting to exhale it