Fans rally to #RecastTChalla in Black Panther 2

When news of a Black Panther 2 movie was announced, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige assured fans that the movie will “honour the legacy” of Chadwick Boseman and will not recast the hero T’Challa.

However, fans have other plans and have been actively asking Marvel to honour the late actor in another way: by recasting Boseman’s character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Leading the campaign to recast T’Challa is Emmanuel “E-Man” Noisette.

A lifelong comic book and movie lover, Noisette responded by launching an online campaign in April to #RecastTChalla. His change.org petition has since garnered more than 47,000 signatures and ignited a viral social media crusade to keep the Wakandan king alive in the MCU.

#RecastTChalla and #SaveTChalla began trending on Twitter on Monday (Dec 27) with thousands of tweets and fans imploring the studio to continue Boseman’s legacy of representation by giving another Black actor the chance to play Marvel’s first leading Black character onscreen.

Among the #RecastTChalla movement’s supporters is Boseman’s brother Derrick Boseman, who said that the star believed the groundbreaking role was bigger than he was.

“T’Challa wasn’t Chadwick Boseman’s best role or best performance. It was simply his most visible & got him the recognition he already deserved,” tweeted Twitter user @Ekie0. “Recognition that other underappreciated black actors in Hollywood need. T’Challa living on means Chad’s name lives on.”

Noisette’s latest attempt to trend #RecastTChalla on Twitter was inspired by recent similar campaigns such as #MakeTASM3 (Make The Amazing Spider-Man 3) and #ReleaseTheSnyderCut — which resulted in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

[embed]https://twitter.com/Ekie0/status/1475476774280736768[/embed]

Although production for Black Panther 2 has already begun, with many speculating that T’Challa’s younger sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright), will become the next Black Panther, fans have been throwing around potential actors who could step up to the mantle. Amongst them were the likes of Y’lan Noel (Insecure), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen, The Matrix Resurrections), John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman) and Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight).

“When it comes to other white popular characters — like James Bond or Spider-Man or whoever — we roll those names off easy because they have those opportunities. Black actors don’t get that,” Noisette said.

“That’s not fair. We should get the same treatment. And that is exactly how legacies are created. We want to make Chadwick Boseman and T’Challa the beginning of a legacy and not the end of one.”

READ ALSO: Ryan Coogler says making Black Panther sequel without Chadwick Boseman is the ‘hardest thing’

This article was first published in Geek Culture.