For the next few weeks, many of Marvel Comics' main titles will carry a special banner on the cover honoring the memory of Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman, who died on August 28 after a private four-year battle with colon cancer.
The banners, which will begin appearing on the covers of official previews released by Marvel Comics last week, read "Rest in power. Chadwick Boseman: 1977-2020. An example can be seen here on the cover of September 23's Immortal She-Hulk #1. They will appear on comic books released between September 23 and October 14.
Boseman first portrayed T'Challa/the Black Panther in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, which was released the same year Boseman apparently received his diagnosis. He portrayed Black Panther in his own self-titled film, along with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Black Panther 2, announced for a May 6, 2022 release, was in the planning stages at the time of Boseman's death.
Marvel Comics has not released a full list of the titles which will display the banner, stating it would appear on "most Marvel titles' regular covers," which also implies that variant covers will not carry the banner.
"I haven't grieved a loss this acute before. I spent the last year preparing, imagining, and writing words for him to say, that we weren't destined to see," stated Black Panther director Ryan Coogler in an emotional tribute to Boseman. "It leaves me broken knowing that I won't be able to watch another close-up of him in the monitor again or walk up to him and ask for another take.
"In African cultures, we often refer to loved ones that have passed on as ancestors. Sometimes you are genetically related. Sometimes you are not…I have to reckon with the fact that Chad is an ancestor now. And I know that he will watch over us, until we meet again."
