# Wtf, Chadwick Boseman dies after four-year battle with colon cancer **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288 "2020-08-29T02:23:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/21 "2020-08-29T11:59:33Z")
Totally surprising, sad news. And I seriously would have guessed that he was 5 or 6 years younger than he actually was. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/22 "2020-08-29T12:15:05Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > GodDAMN it’s been a year. His exasperation with people during his public appearances is explained fully to me now. I’m not sure I know what you mean. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/23 "2020-08-29T15:10:37Z")
He actually lost a lot of weight recently. [Drastically](https://images.app.goo.gl/5Zg6BPEyiRvUWumb7). People were speculating it might be for a role or he might be vegan or even he might be sick. I don’t think anyone thought cancer, though. ---
**Author:** ![HammondsCollapse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@HammondsCollapse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HammondsCollapse)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/24 "2020-08-29T16:20:12Z")
I’m sure the guy was a fine actor and everything but I gotta admit that I find it weird CNN has his death at the top headline and says “with Chadwick Boseman’s passing, there is an added layer of grief for Black America” uhhh what? ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/25 "2020-08-29T16:26:43Z")
Stunning loss. A man who did great work on and off screen. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/26 "2020-08-29T17:31:59Z")
> **['Black Panther' star Chadwick Boseman is sick and tired of doing the Wakanda...](https://www.insider.com/black-panther-star-chadwick-boseman-michael-b-jordan-tired-wakanda-salute-meme-2018-5)** > > Chadwick Boseman does the Wakanda salute from "Black Panther" everywhere he goes. But he and Michael B. Jordan seem to be really tired of it — and now it's become a meme. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/27 "2020-08-29T17:56:09Z")
This was a surprise! Damn RIP ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/28 "2020-08-29T18:01:59Z")
People are looking back at any photos back then to see if he was just tired from fighting his illness. We can’t know, but it is true that we have no idea what each individual we see is going through. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/29 "2020-08-29T18:09:30Z")
> [@HammondsCollapse](#): > > I’m sure the guy was a fine actor and everything but I gotta admit that I find it weird CNN has his death at the top headline and says “with Chadwick Boseman’s passing, there is an added layer of grief for Black America” uhhh what? Well, he played Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and James Brown, all to critical acclaim. So he was probably a role model to many. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/30 "2020-08-29T18:12:32Z")
Don’t wanna speak for the dead but. . … I can see his exasperation. Why are people not responding more with 12 Years A Slave or Jackie Robinson? At the end, I think he came to appreciate the broad impact Black Panther had on the black community. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/expKmfdoo28/maxresdefault.jpg "Chadwick Boseman Surprises Black Panther Fans While They Thank Him") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=expKmfdoo28) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/31 "2020-08-29T18:38:02Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Don’t wanna speak for the dead but. . … I can see his exasperation. Why are people not responding more with 12 Years A Slave or Jackie Robinson? At the end, I think he came to appreciate the broad impact Black Panther had on the black community. > > [https://youtu.be/expKmfdoo28](https://youtu.be/expKmfdoo28) I’m actually crying real tears from watching that. I’m glad he came to know what he did for people before he died. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/32 "2020-08-29T18:43:20Z")
This Tweet turns out to be genuinely ironic: > Everyone keeps asking about T’Challa but no one bothers to ask how is Chadwick. [https://twitter.com/cIoakspidey/status/994635295793430528?ref\_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^994836474980896768|twgr^&ref\_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.insider.com%2Fblack-panther-star-chadwick-boseman-michael-b-jordan-tired-wakanda-salute-meme-2018-5](https://twitter.com/cIoakspidey/status/994635295793430528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E994836474980896768%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.insider.com%2Fblack-panther-star-chadwick-boseman-michael-b-jordan-tired-wakanda-salute-meme-2018-5) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/33 "2020-08-29T20:01:04Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I’m actually crying real tears from watching that. It’s cheesy and designed to elicit tears. I hate stuff like that, but it worked for me. That young man looking at him in total awe is outrageously amazing. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/34 "2020-08-29T21:07:18Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Don’t wanna speak for the dead but. . … I can see his exasperation. Why are people not responding more with 12 Years A Slave or Jackie Robinson? Well, because not as many people saw those movies. (The latter movie was called “42.”) Of course there’s also the fact that those stories have been told in film before. I don’t think “12 Years a Slave” specifically had, but stories like it had. Jackie Robinson’s story is an extremely well told one. A Black lead in a Marvel superhero spectacular, however, had never happened before, and while of course it’s not a true story, there is something to being represented in what is the biggest ongoing cultural phenomenon in the world right now. There have been Black superheros in film before, but not in movies on that level of cultural attention - Blade is a pretty niche product. Black Panther was, in onme sense, just another Marvel movie; as film productions go they are basically all the same. But clearly in another sense it was very different; the very fact of Black representation had an emotional impact on millions of people. If white people (like me) don’t get the concept of systemic racism - uh, well, I don’t know how they possibly can’t. This is one little example. As a white man, there is literally no movie that can be made that would have an equivalent emotional impact on me. Movies might have a huge emotional impact on me, but not that specific kind, because I will never as long as I live feel the joy of being represented in popular culture where before I was not. White guys are the default in popular culture, and have been for my whole life and generations before. I can never, ever feel what it’s like to look up at the big screen and think, _“finally.”_ > [@Mahaloth](#): > > It’s cheesy and designed to elicit tears. I hate stuff like that, but it worked for me. That young man looking at him in total awe is outrageously amazing. He was taller than I thought. Huh. I always figured he was maybe five-nine or five-ten, but he’s at least as tall as Jimmy Fallon, who is six feet tall. ---
**Author:** ![Boudicca90](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boudicca90/32/16818_2.png) [@Boudicca90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boudicca90)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/35 "2020-08-29T21:08:00Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > Well, he played Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and James Brown, all to critical acclaim. So he was probably a role model to many. Not to diminish the real people mentioned here or his performances, but I think Black Panther is the role that really made him a role model. An important and powerful Black superhero that also managed to become extremely popular? That’s big. ---
**Author:** ![MN\_Maenad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@MN\_Maenad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MN_Maenad)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/36 "2020-08-29T21:52:47Z")
Plus, Black Panther showed an African country that was powerful and wealthy, and then showed up the U.N. by graciously offering to share their technology. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/37 "2020-08-29T21:54:44Z")
I love that aspect of the movie. Is that directly from the comics? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/38 "2020-08-29T21:58:21Z")
> [@Boudicca90](#): > > > [@outlierrn](#): > > > > Well, he played Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and James Brown, all to critical acclaim. So he was probably a role model to many. > > Not to diminish the real people mentioned here or his performances, but I think Black Panther is the role that really made him a role model. An important and powerful Black superhero that also managed to become extremely popular? That’s big. Can’t ignore the scale. Playing those real characters may have had more prestige but how many people saw them? Marshall grossed $10 million. Black Panther grossed $1.3 billion ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/39 "2020-08-29T21:59:02Z")
If you haven’t seen it, I recommend watching this [SNL sketch of Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa appearing on Black Jeopardy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzMzFGgmQOc). ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2020, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288/40 "2020-08-29T22:12:47Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > If you haven’t seen it, I recommend watching this [SNL sketch of Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa appearing on Black Jeopardy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzMzFGgmQOc). “I assume this woman did not season her food?” “That’s correct, of course.” Love it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-chadwick-boseman-dies-after-four-year-battle-with-colon-cancer/919288.md?page=3)