With Wakanda Forever being out now and their lead actor Chadwick Boseman not being able to participate because of his passing the fans have a lot to say about him and the legacy he has left.

“A lot of people were inspired by his work when playing the character Black Panther but even more than just his character he inspired people with the work he did, fundraisers he joined, and he became people’s idol not only him playing a hero he is a hero himself for what he did before he passed away,” Junior Vinicius Lima said.

Chadwick Boseman, while best known for his role in the marvel cinematic universe as Black Panther, was more than just a superhero character. Chadwick was in lots more movies playing some iconic roles and he was an active participant in fundraising for Saint Jude, but most of all he was a role model and hero for people around the world.

“He and the movie had an impact on how people of color saw themselves and how they were portrayed and although he’s not the first African American superhero he’s the one that I feel like had the most impact on people,” 6^th grader Jaydiann velez said.

While there are many other African American superheroes, people still find themselves talking about the Black Panther more than any of the other superheroes, but unlike some other actors that play superheroes he is also talked about for his other roles.

“Well, he played in a lot more things before doing Black Panther and was already a popular actor whereas most of the marvel actors got their start from the movies and the characters kind of brought the actors to life in a way where it feels like Chadwick Boseman brought Black Panther to life,”  Freshman Kamil Hernandez said.

Boseman has done a numerous amount of films throughout his career as an actor playing iconic roles such as Jackie Robinson in the movie “42” or “Get on Up” where he portrays singer James Brown all having an impact on the film industry.

“He played Black Panther and so many other roles that have really paved the way all while he was on his death bed in a way. He was surviving cancer and acting and not lots of people knew about him having cancer, so I would say that impacted the film industry,”  Junior Riyadh Mbabazy said.

It was August 28^th of 2020 when the world had gotten the devastating news that Chadwick Boseman has died of colon cancer at the age of 43 leaving millions of fans, friends, cast mates and family heart broken.

“It was very emotional for everybody and for me personally it was very sad cause like other people I didn’t think we would get to see another Black Panther movie plus it was so unexpected it was a huge shock,” Freshman Barbra Vera Rodriguez said.

After Chadwick passed away fans were left thinking that there would not be another Black Panther movie although it was already in the works. This left director Ryan Coogler to produce a whole new movie idea and once he did and announced it fans were skeptical of how it would affect the movie without Chadwick.

“It affected the movie a lot because I know most of the emotions in the movie were real emotions not just acted out, so it felt contributed to him and respectful to him and the fact that his characters not dead just moving on,” Vera Rodriguez said

Lots of fans of Boseman and of Black Panther have said that Wakanda Forever felt like it had finally given them some closure after his passing, especially with it being so unexpected and quick.

“I mean bringing back all the actors together after his passing made it emotional for them because they mention him a lot throughout the movie, made a memorial and that’s what really brought it all together and made it a special movie and I think people seeing him get that goodbye in the movie brought closure to everyone involved in his life even fans,” Lima said.

Throughout the movie there were plenty of tributes to Boseman, making it very emotional to watch as it felt like they gave his life a final goodbye.

“I feel like we were all able to get that feeling of we finally get to say goodbye and almost pay our respects to him in a way and just seeing it with our own eyes, seeing him get a goodbye was something I feel like the movie did really well,” said Mbabazy.

In the new movie Wakanda Forever they decided to keep “The Black Panther” going and have his sister replace him honoring him and keeping the legacy going.

“I think that when they decided to keep the “Black Panther” it was almost like a breath of fresh air because we still got to have that character that we all know and love while it was honoring the original as well as giving us what some would call an update,” Freshman Kaytlin Potter said.

In the movie we also see a tremendous amount of loss and grief and it shows how difficult it can be to handle those things which are things that many people dealt with when Chadwick passed away.

“It shows how different people grieve in different ways. It shows that people have different coping mechanisms for things like this and that losing someone you love can really make you do crazy things sometimes stupid sometimes good but no matter stupid or good it’s because of grief,” Vera Rodriguez said.

With all the sadness that comes with loss we can always try to find a positive and look forward not back which is exactly what the end of Wakanda Forever does when we get introduced to King T’Challas son. With this introduction fans believe that there will be more movies to keep his legacy continuing.

“He has a son in the movie, and I think that he’s going to be the future black panther. I believe their waiting for him to grow up a little more but then I think that they’re going to carry on the legacy that Chadwick Boseman left and I’m sure that he’d be very proud of everything that their doing today to keep the Black Panther story alive and going because it really is amazing,” Lima said.