In cleaning up my blog tags, came across the tag “Agents of SHIELD.” Interestingly, I recently binge-watched the entire series from the beginning. This time I added viewing the pertinent Marvel movie at the appropriate time to see if it would add any insight. It did, but mostly in reference to mentions of “Barton and Romanoff,” “Pym particles,” and “the Sokovia Accord.” Not necessarily essential, but interesting.
The movies I watched included Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Captain America: Civil War (my favorite). Somewhere along the way I also watched Thor: The Dark World, Ant-Man, and fast-forwarded through much of Thor: Ragnarok (because it was awful).
I finished the movies with the Avengers duo of Infinity War and Endgame, (Boy, were they depressing.)
Infinity War introduced me to the Black Panther, whom I found quite intriguing. I credit the actor for bringing all that appeal. That weekend, my nephew posted on Facebook that Chadwick Boseman had died. Well, damn!
So this great charismatic actor has now joined many others who’ve gone too soon. My personal list includes George Harrison (my favorite Beatle), Jim Henson (the genius behind the Muppets), and newsman Tim Russert, whom I called “the smartest man in Washington. It goes to show that death does not discriminate. It comes to us all, sometimes too soon. It doesn’t care about things like intelligence, wealth, success, or even innate goodness.
I watched Endgame again this past week (because I’d skipped through many parts previously—there’s only so much CGI warfare I can take). Tony Stark’s final soliloquy is quite moving (as is Robert Downing Jr’s voice-over). He talks about happy endings (not guaranteed), families together, the vastness of the universe, and death as the culmination of life. And now Its poignancy is multiplied because, while we’re supposed to be mourning Iron Man, the camera pans across T’Challa with his mother and sister in Wakanda and again at Tony’s memorial. That is the real tear-jerker.
I just watched the highly entertaining Black Panther this weekend, I’ll definitely be watching more Chadwick Boseman movies. I’m particularly looking forward to 42 and Get on Up, as both Jackie Robinson and James Brown are favorites of mine. I’ll be adding Marshall to that list because Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall’s story deserves to be told.
And after that, I’ll probably truly mourn the passing of an excellent actor and the amazing life and career Chadwick Boseman could have had.
[All photos hoisted from Remembering Chadwick Boseman at IMDB]
Stream of Conscience 
I’m not typically affected by celebrity deaths the way a lot of people are, but I teared up every time I saw a tribute to Boseman. It’s a huge loss that goes beyond the pure entertainment aspect.
I’d seen mention that people don’t want him replaced as the Black Panther, but I think it would be wrong for that franchise to go dormant. So I was excited to see a rumor that they may focus on his sister, Shuri.
I recently binged the whole Agents of SHIELD, too! It struck me how creative and yet cohesive the show has been. Every season was so different, characters moved in and out, but the core of family and duty stayed true. I’m really going to miss it.
Synchronized binge-watching! Awesome! I agree about Agents being cohesive. It was much more evident when watching a second time.
Incidentally, I just watched Captain Marvel. What a hoot with a young Phil Coulson and Nick Fury.
I am THRILLED about the possibility of focusing on Shuri. She was an absolute treat to watch. Great character, great actor portraying her.