Kevin Feige says Chadwick Boseman's What If...? episodes influenced the Black Panther sequel

The late Chadwick Boseman’s final acting appearance begins airing this week, as T’Challa enters the new Marvel series What If…? The animated multiverse series has been able to answer all the hypothetical questions concerning the vast Marvel Cinematic Universe, like in the first episode, “What If… Captain Carter Was The First Avenger?” Now, the first of many episodes featuring Boseman tackles another big question: “What if T’Challa Was Star-Lord?”

During last night’s red carpet for Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, Marvel President Kevin Feige touched on how Boseman’s last performance as T’Challa will have a lasting influence on the MCU, particularly in the sequel for Black Panther, titled Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. While recording the forthcoming What If…? episodes, Feige says Boseman really connected with who T’Challa becomes in the series.

“We didn’t know it would be his final performance obviously,” Feige told Variety. “He came in numerous times, was so gung ho about it, was so excited about it… He read the episode that airs 24 hours from now and then came back and said ‘I really love this version of T’Challa.’ And we had a conversation after that with Ryan [Coogler, director of Wakanda Forever] about how do we get some of this voice—none of the storyline—but just some of that voice into Panther 2… I’m excited for the fans to see that as well.”

As the one year anniversary of Boseman’s death arrives later this month, Feige was asked if Marvel has any special plans for the day: “Every day is a tribute to him right now as we’re filming in Atlanta, every single day.”

Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Martin Freeman, Letitia Wright, and Angela Bassett all return for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, with no one replacing Boseman as T’Challa. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens in theaters on July 8, 2022.