Actor Chadwick Boseman, who gained international recognition in Marvel's Black Panther, has died, according to multiple news reports and confirmed by his official social media account. He was 43.
Boseman began appearing in U.S. television shows in 2003 and made his big-screen debut in a supporting role in The Express (2008). He broke out big in the U.S. through his portrayals of Black icons, first as baseball legend Jackie Robinson in 42 (2013) and then as 'the hardest working man in show business,' James Brown, in Get on Up (2014). An appearance in Alex Proyas' Gods of Egypt (2016) didn't hurt, but it was his first appearance as T'Challa, aka Black Panther, in Captain America: Civil War (2016) that electrified audiences worldwide.
Starring roles in Message From the King (2016) and Marshall (2017) soon followed -- in the latter he completed a trifecta of sterling biographical performances as young Thurgood Marshall, who later became a member of the U.S. Supreme Court -- capped by his dynamic, stirring embodiment of heroism as the titular character in Ryan Coogler's Black Panther (2018) that appeared to cement his career as a major star.
According to his official Twitter account, Boseman "was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer in 2016, and battled with it these last 4 years as it progressed to stage IV. ... He died in his home, with his wife and family by his side."
Boseman costarred in Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods, released earlier this year on Netflix, and completed his role in George C. Wolfe's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, which has yet to set a release date. He was an extraordinary actor whose talents were only beginning to be fully displayed in the roles he played on screen.