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Watch Marvel's touching tribute to Chadwick Boseman

The studio remembers the Black Panther actor, who died Friday at 43.

Jennifer Bisset Former Senior Editor / Culture
Jennifer Bisset was a senior editor for CNET. She covered film and TV news and reviews. The movie that inspired her to want a career in film is Lost in Translation. She won Best New Journalist in 2019 at the Australian IT Journalism Awards.
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  • Best New Journalist 2019 Australian IT Journalism Awards
Jennifer Bisset
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Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa, aka Black Panther.

Matt Kennedy

Marvel  has paid tribute to Chadwick Boseman in a video celebrating his role as superhero  Black Panther . The actor died on Friday at age 43 after a battle with colon cancer. 

"Chadwick was an amazing actor who we thought would fit perfectly with the MCU ," Marvel chief Kevin Feige says in the video posted Sunday.

The video features interviews with actors and filmmakers, and behind-the-scenes footage of Boseman, who privately dealt with colon cancer for four years.

"A lot of the things about the character are also true about Chad," Black Panther director Ryan Coogler says in one of the interviews. "He's very knowledgable. He's an athlete, a martial artist. He's had a lot of experience playing roles that come with a lot of weight."

"He as a guy has a lot of weight to him."

Boseman first appeared as Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War, before starring in 2018's Black Panther. The solo film took $1.3 billion worldwide, becoming one of Marvel's highest-grossing movies at the time. It later became the first superhero film to earn a Best Picture nomination and win an Oscar -- for costume design, original score and production design.

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"It's fun to watch what it means to people," Boseman says in an interview of his role as the superhero. "What does this do for the world? Is it actually valuable in this climate? And I have to say yes. Not because it makes people escape. I think, when done right, it gives people hope."

Over the course of his career, Boseman portrayed several notable historical figures, including baseball player Jackie Robinson in 42, James Brown in Get on Up and Thurgood Marshall in Marshall.

Many actors and filmmakers have paid tribute to Boseman, as has former president Barack Obama. "To be young, gifted, and Black; to use that power to give them heroes to look up to; to do it all while in pain – what a use of his years," he posted on Instagram Sunday.

"You will always be our king," Marvel says to end its tribute.

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