Marvel Just Named a Piece of Wakanda After Chadwick Boseman

With the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman last year, Marvel lost a huge piece of what made the Black Panther character take off around the globe. The feature film not only brought in over $1 billion at the global box office but saw Marvel Studios nab its first Oscars, and Boseman at the center of it all helped make the character a household name on par with Captain America, Iron Man, and Spider-Man. Though Marvel has already confirmed that they won’t be recasting the role for the upcoming Black Panther 2, the comics division of the company has put a special tribute in place to Boseman that will no doubt be used in comics for years to come.

In the pages of Marvel’s Avengers #41, writer Jason Aaron made sure to pencil in a Wakanda specific tribute to Boseman, revealing that one of the country’s helicarriers is officially named after him. The comic specifically deals with an ongoing tournament to see who will be the host for the Phoenix Force, with T’Challa the favorite of the entity itself to take on the mantle, but its final pages deal with a fight between two of the other competitors, Echo and Namor. As the battle begins we see the tribute, with “Wakandan Helicarrier Boseman” making a note of it from the air. See it for yourself below!

It’s unclear how big of a roll the Helicarrier will play in the long run but it will always be in the toolbox for future writers and artists to use as they see fit. Who knows, maybe one day it will make its way to the big screen too.

“I wanted to acknowledge the devastating loss of a dear family and a member of the Marvel studios family,” Marvel president Kevin Feige said on Disney Investor Day. “Chadwick Boseman was an immensely talented actor and an inspirational individual, who effected all of our lives professionally and personally. His portrayal of T’Challa the Black Panther is iconic and transcends any iteration of the character in any other medium from Marvel’s past and it’s for that reason that we will not recast the character. However, to honor the legacy that Chad helped us build through his portrayal of the King of Wakanda, we want to continue to explore the world of Wakanda and all the rich and varied characters introduced in the first film.”

Black Panther 2 was previously delayed by the studio from a May 2022 release until July of the same year.