Chadwick Boseman († August 2020) is known as the king and protector of Wakanda, Black Panther, in the Marvel films. However, he initially auditioned for a completely different role in the well-known comic universe.
Chadwick Boseman made his first appearance as T’Challa aka Black Panther in 2016 in Captain America: Civil War. In 2018, the first standalone film about the comic character was released with Black Panther.
Further appearances followed in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, before Chadwick Boseman passed away from cancer in 2020. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) was dedicated to his memory.
Here you can see a trailer for Black Panther with Chadwick Boseman:
Guardians of the Galaxy instead of Black Panther
Chadwick Boseman’s big role in the MCU might not have happened if the actor hadn’t initially auditioned for a completely different character.
Initially, Chadwick Boseman auditioned for the role of Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy. Although he didn’t get the role, the audition was worth it.
As the actor revealed in the talk show The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on November 20, 2019, he was seen by the right people, who could then place him elsewhere:
Sometimes that’s how it works as an actor. You go in and know that you won’t get the role, but you meet the people who might say, “This isn’t it, but we’ll put him in this other thing.”
I feel like this was one of those moments when they said, “Oh, we might need him later.”
Chadwick Boseman, Source: YouTube
Chadwick Boseman explained that he didn’t know exactly what the tone of Guardians of the Galaxy was supposed to be, as he only received a few pages for the audition. In hindsight, he saw how much humor the film series had and praised the final result with Dave Bautista as Drax.
If you are Marvel fans, you might also be interested in this article from our colleagues at Moviepilot: A new MCU era begins on Disney+: Echo is the toughest Marvel series since Daredevil and Punisher, but is that enough?
As Vanity Fair reported, Chadwick Boseman was not the only actor from Black Panther who tried his luck with the Guardians before. Lupita Nyong’o, who played Nakia in the Marvel films, also auditioned for a role in the space crew: She wanted to play the character Gamora, which ultimately went to Zoe Saldaña. A well-known DC actor was also offered the role of Drax, but he declined: Aquaman turned down a cool role in one of the best Marvel film series because he didn’t want to be the “guy without a shirt” again.
