In 21 Bridges, he had a more conventional, generic role as a New York cop who in time-honoured style had lost his dad to criminals, and now has to solve a violent gangland crime on Manhattan which he does by ordering all twenty-one bridges connecting the island to the mainland to be closed to cut off the culprit’s means of escape - an interestingly regal move.īut of course it was as T’Challa, the gloriously charismatic superhero of colour in Marvel’s afrofuturist adventure, that Boseman imposed his personality on the movies. Photograph: Stx Entertainment/Allstar/MATT KENNEDY Already, he was assuming a kind of superheroism.īoseman in 21 Bridges. His Robinson was a figure shown being beset by bigotry on all sides, even by some on his own team, but toughing it out without self-pity. This was a film which notably chose a simpler, inspirational theme over anything more complex and politically contentious, but Boseman’s performance was what supplied the complexity and texture in itself: seductive and determined, intent on surpassing his own loneliness and the prejudice of others. It had been Boseman’s destiny, also, to dramatise other African-American icons on his way to becoming an icon himself: in 42, he was legendary Jackie Robinson, the first black American to make it into baseball’s major league.

We now know that Boseman was being treated for cancer, and must already have been aware of the possibility that his end was near. This superbly conceived performance now assumes an almost unbearable, real poignancy: when I see the poster image of these men taking a knee at Norman’s graveside it is overwhemingly sad.

Bisa butler chadwick boseman