Since the passing of legend, icon, and super hero Chadwick Boseman last year, the idea of passing the mantle of the Black Panther off to anyone else has been met with understandable apprehension. The entertainment, comic book, and pop culture world was stunned by the news of Chadwick’s passing last year after learning about his personal battle with colon cancer and countless roles and activities he committed to while battling his illness.
However, since his passing, his legacy as Black Panther has been amplified in ways that gently expose fans to the prospect of someone else sharing that space just as thoughtfully as when Chadwick occupied it. His role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe extended beyond the screen, with Black Panther continuing to appear in comic books and, most recently, video games. Square Enix and Crystal Dynamic’s popular roleplaying game Marvel’s Avengers lets players take control of the core cast (Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow, and Thor) through missions and activities that explore the Marvel universe beyond the films.
New characters continue to get added to the game’s roster, with updates adding new missions and heroes to help bolster the content of a game that has, since launch, sustained a staggering loss to its player base. Marvel’s Avenger recently announced upcoming DLC entitled War for Wakanda that will have the king return to screens and hopefully deliver the same impactful impressions as Chadwick’s MCU version of T’Challa.
The heart and soul of the new DLC is in good hands: Evan Narcisse, writer, critic, and narrative design consultant for Spider-Man: Miles Morales is hoping to bring a new vision of T’Challa to life, as he worked with the Marvel’s Avengers team to expand on the king in ways gamers could appreciate even more. Additionally, EW learned exclusively that Christopher Judge (Stargate SG-1), legendary star and voice actor for Kratos in 2018’s critically acclaimed God of War title, has been tapped to voice T’Challa in the new DLC. Fans are already excited to see the energy and renewed spirit Judge will bring to the Black Panther after dealing with the uncertainty of where T’Challa would go next.
According to the news EW broke:
“I turned it down straight away,” Judge told EW over Zoom about when he was first approached about the voice role. “There’s many Black Panthers, but I really didn’t believe that anyone should ever do T’Challa again [after Boseman]. The actual talks proceeded and, basically, I wound up doing it because my mother and my children said if I didn’t do it, they would disown me.”
In the same coverage, Narcisse attributed The Rise of the Black Panther with having a lot of influence on War for Wakanda. The DLC is set to drop August 2021 and gamers are feeling excited about the new content and direction Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics are taking their game.
