Black Panther Fans Remember Chadwick Boseman on What Would Have Been His 44th Birthday

In August, the news broke that Marvel Studios' Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman had died at the age of 43 due to colon cancer. Boseman played King T'Challa, the hero known as the Black Panther and the ruler of the technologically-advanced African kingdom of Wakanda, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Through that role and his performances as Jackie Robinson, James Brown, and Thurgood Marshall, Blackman became an icon. Marvel Entertainment honored the star with two tributes in the game Spider-Man: Morales, by altering the Marvel fanfare of Black Panther on Disney+, a with a written remembrance from Black Panther writer Ta-Nehisi Coates published in the company's comics:

"I got to watch him through the years — advancing out of student theater, on to TV and film, and then finally cast as T'Challa. He was perfect. He had T'Challa's royal spirit, the sense that he did not represent merely himself, but a nation. And this is how I am understanding his death. It is personally sad to lose him at such a young age. But for those of us who so needed him right now, in these dark times, those of us who went to war with him, the loss is unthinkable. We simply cannot afford to be without Chad. My recourse is inadequate, but it's all I have to make meaning of this tragedy. It is the idea of ancestry. It is the notion that when someone like Chad wields their weapons as fiercely as he once did, they are remembered. It is the idea that Chad's wisdom and power are still with us in ancestral form. It is the thought that just as Chad once walked into the City of the Dead and harnessed the energy of those who'd gone before him, so he too may be harnessed, by all those warriors to come."

Today would have been Boseman's 44th birthday. Fans of the actor are taking to Twitter and other social media platforms to remember and honor the star. Keep reading to see some of what fans are saying on social media.

Black Panther is streaming now on Disney+.