Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman dies

As he battled ferocious aliens and evil geniuses on-screen, Chadwick Boseman, Marvel’s Black Panther, fought privately against the disease that ended his life. His family announced his death from colon cancer on Friday. He was 43.

What other roles did he play? He starred as nonfictional African American heroes, too, including Jackie Robinson, major league baseball’s first black player, in 2013’s 42, and Thurgood Marshall, the first black U.S. Supreme Court justice, in 2017’s Marshall. In 2014, he portrayed James Brown, the singer known as the “Godfather of Soul,” whose career was marred by drug addiction and accusations of domestic violence. Doctors diagnosed Boseman with stage 3 cancer in 2016. “A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much,” his family said.

Dig deeper: Read Megan Basham’s 2018 review of Black Panther.