Letitia Wright’s Anti-Vax Sideshow on ‘Black Panther 2’ Is an Insult to Chadwick Boseman

An harm to Letitia Wright simply tossed a vibranium-plated wrench into Disney’s return to Wakanda.

Marvel Studios lately introduced it’s shutting down manufacturing on Black Panther: Wakanda Ceaselessly due to an undisclosed injury sustained by its 28-year-old British star in September. Wright, who’s slated to take up the Black Panther mantle after Chadwick Boseman’s tragic passing, has been launched from the hospital and, in response to her representatives, is “recovering in London… and searching ahead to returning to work in early 2022.” The one drawback with this plan is we’re nonetheless residing in a worldwide pandemic the place worldwide journey stays a dicey proposition. To mitigate the unfold, the CDC enacted a brand new rule earlier this week requiring all non-immigrant, non-citizens flying to the U.S. to point out proof of full vaccination earlier than boarding, which makes the reviews (which she’s denied) of Wright was planting anti-vax concepts on set appear extremely awkward.

Not solely does the brand new rule, Wright’s immigration and vaccination statuses, and harm all congeal right into a messy sludge for Disney by way of scheduling nevertheless it additionally presents a number of extra meta points for the Black Panther imprint. The Mickey Mouse Mediaship has already introduced delays for a few of its most extremely anticipated Section 4 movies, together with Physician Unusual within the Multiverse of Insanity, The Marvels, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and Thor: Love and Thunder. On the time of the harm, it appeared manufacturing might proceed however now, with many of the non-Shuri scenes already within the can and Wright on the shelf, it’s exhausting to think about the Black Panther sequel, which was imagined to be launched in November 2022, received’t undergo the identical destiny. However much more so, Wright’s very public questioning of the vaccine’s efficacy additionally casts a contradictory cloud over one of many movie’s most necessary endeavors: honoring the life of its previous king.