Chadwick Boseman's brother has said that the late actor would be in favor of recasting his iconic role in Black Panther.
Boseman - who died after a secret four-year battle with cancer in 2020 - played the titular character in Marvel's superhero flick about a technologically advanced African nation.
Since his tragic death last year, fans have called for his character King TChalla to be recast so that he can live on in the MCU franchise.
Now Boseman's own brother Derrick has sided with fans, saying that allowing a new actor to step into the Black Panther's shoes is what he would have wanted.
In an interview with TMZ, He explained that there aren't many "positive influences for young Black children," who don't often see themselves represented in superhero films.
By killing T'Challa off so quickly after Boseman passed, Derrick thinks Marvel will deprive young Black kids of a positive role model.
"Chadwick never explicitly expressed his wishes, before his death, about what should happen with the character," Derrick clarified - but as one of the people closest to him, he believes that the actor would have wanted his character to live on.
Fans are clamoring for a recasting, with #RecastTchalla trending on Twitter and a Change.org petition asking Marvel to "recast King T'Challa to honor Chadwich Boseman" amassing over 44,000 signatures.
"If Marvel Studios removes T’Challa, it would be at the expense of the audiences (especially Black boys and men) who saw themselves in him," reads the petition's description.
"By not recasting, it could stifle the opportunity for one of the most popular, leading Black superheroes to add on to their legacy. The number one way to kill a legend is to stop telling their story."
"#RecastTChalla was started based on [Boseman's] views, not fan entitlement," wrote one user.
"The image of a black male king of a technologically advanced society, which is the story of T'Challa aka THE Black Panther, is too powerful to let end & prestigious to replace with fanfiction," tweeted another, adding that the character "deserves Spider-Man-esk support."
"Chadwick Boseman worked through cancer to give T’Challa life. Now you want to kill off T’Challa despite Chadwick Boseman’s hard work and sacrifice?" wrote a third.
The recent surge in the movement comes amid reports that Boseman's former co-star Letitia Wright may be bowing out of the Black Panther sequel due to conflicts over vaccines.
Wright - who played T'Challa's younger sister Shuri - is believed to be unvaccinated, The Gamer reports. If this is the case, Hollywood's vaccine mandate could make it impossible for her to continue working within the MCU.
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