RIP, Chadwick Boseman.
Some may already know this, but our campaign here didn't actually begin on RPoL. Prior to my setting it up here, Marvel Mania was an IRL campaign that ran from late 2018-late 2019. I was the Watcher, my first player was my girlfriend (Tigra in our game), and all the heroes were played by various friends of ours. The first-ever scene in the campaign was a sparring match between all the player heroes. I thought it would be a great way for all the players to try out their powers and learn the system in a non-threatening way. Big mistake on my part.
My friend Ahmed (a big, 6+ foot tall Somalian guy, mind you) had chosen to play the Black Panther. For his very first action-- and the first-ever action by a player in the campaign-- he decided to pick up his teammate Spider-Woman and toss her at Shadowcat, who was on the opposing team. And so right out of the gate, the session-- the very first in a campaign I had been planning for well over a year at that point-- immediately ground to a halt as I had to pore over the rules and figure out the mechanics of what he had just done.
(I found out much later it could have just been an Area Attack. Hey, I was new to it all.)
Since then, the Black Panther had a special place in our hearts within the campaign. He was played as noble and heroic as he was in the source material, yet he also had a goofy side that came out at the most random moments. (Making up a Resource on-the-spot, the player decided one of his contacts in the world of intelligence was named "Mr. Gigolo." We never found out who that was exactly.) T'Challa was present for some of the most pivotal moments in the campaign, even demonstrating himself the only player hero worthy enough to lift the mighty hammer Mjolnir from its resting site.
No doubt a lot of our love of the character came from seeing Chadwick Boseman portray him in the MCU. I myself had never read any Black Panther comics, but after seeing his debut in Civil War, he instantly became a favorite of my girlfriend and I. Black Panther was strong and wise, yet also humble and graceful. In a time when sarcastic, quippy heroes were (and still are) often front-and-center, Boseman portrayed the character with a quiet intensity that really captured the essence of what the character is all about.
Chadwick Boseman may not have been a Wakandan king or a superhero in real life, but he embodied the characters' nobility in ways that are just now being recognized. Even having been diagnosed with cancer at the very outset of his career in the MCU, he had the good grace not to inform the public of his illness so that children wouldn't feel sad knowing the Black Panther was sick. No doubt a lot of fans, especially young black kids, are mourning the loss of their favorite superhero right now.
Mr. Boseman will be missed, but the legend of the Black Panther will live on.
Wakanda Forever!
