A former Walt Disney Imagineer is paying tribute to the late actor Chadwick Boseman with a mural of the “Black Panther” star making the Wakanda salute on the side of a Downtown Disney building.
Artist Nikkolas Smith with his two-story tall mural of Chadwick Boseman at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA, on Sept., 24, 2020. The digital artwork, titled “King Chad”, will be on the side of the former ESPN Zone building until New Years Eve. Boseman died of cancer at the age 43 in late August. The actor was best known for playing King T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther and Avengers superhero movies. He also starred as Jackie Robinson in “42,” James Brown in “Get on Up” and Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall.” Smith is a former Disney Imagineer who worked on Pixar Pier and Adventure Isle at Shanghai Disney.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Artist Nikkolas Smith’s two-story tall mural of Chadwick Boseman at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA, on Sept., 24, 2020. The digital artwork, titled “King Chad”, will be on the side of the former ESPN Zone building until New Years Eve. Boseman died of cancer at the age 43 in late August. The actor was best known for playing King T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther and Avengers superhero movies. He also starred as Jackie Robinson in “42,” James Brown in “Get on Up” and Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall.” Smith is a former Disney Imagineer who worked on Pixar Pier and Adventure Isle at Shanghai Disney.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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Jason Sasaki prepares to take a picture with a the two-story tall mural of Chadwick Boseman at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA, on Sept., 24, 2020. The digital artwork, titled “King Chad” by artist and former Imagineer Nikkolas Smith, will be on the side of the former ESPN Zone building until New Years Eve. Boseman died of cancer at the age 43 in late August. The actor was best known for playing King T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther and Avengers superhero movies. He also starred as Jackie Robinson in “42,” James Brown in “Get on Up” and Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall.”
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Abigail Guerrero takes a picture of her fiancé, Kris Lindstrom, and her daughter, April Guerrero, in front of the two-story tall mural of Chadwick Boseman at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA, on Sept., 24, 2020. The digital artwork, titled “King Chad” by artist and former Imagineer Nikkolas Smith, will be on the side of the former ESPN Zone building until New Years Eve. Boseman died of cancer at the age 43 in late August. The actor was best known for playing King T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther and Avengers superhero movies. He also starred as Jackie Robinson in “42,” James Brown in “Get on Up” and Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall.”
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A visitor to Downtown Disney takes a selfie in front of artist Nikkolas Smith’s two-story tall mural of Chadwick Boseman at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA, on Sept., 24, 2020. The digital artwork, titled “King Chad”, will be on the side of the former ESPN Zone building until New Years Eve. Boseman died of cancer at the age 43 in late August. The actor was best known for playing King T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther and Avengers superhero movies. He also starred as Jackie Robinson in “42,” James Brown in “Get on Up” and Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall.” Smith is a former Disney Imagineer who worked on Pixar Pier and Adventure Isle at Shanghai Disney.
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Phoenix Ferguson checks out the two-story tall mural of Chadwick Boseman at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA, on Sept., 24, 2020. The digital artwork, titled “King Chad” by artist and former Imagineer Nikkolas Smith, will be on the side of the former ESPN Zone building until New Years Eve. Boseman died of cancer at the age 43 in late August. The actor was best known for playing King T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther and Avengers superhero movies. He also starred as Jackie Robinson in “42,” James Brown in “Get on Up” and Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall.”
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Phoenix Ferguson checks out the two-story tall mural of Chadwick Boseman at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, CA, on Sept., 24, 2020. The digital artwork, titled “King Chad” by artist and former Imagineer Nikkolas Smith, will be on the side of the former ESPN Zone building until New Years Eve. Boseman died of cancer at the age 43 in late August. The actor was best known for playing King T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther and Avengers superhero movies. He also starred as Jackie Robinson in “42,” James Brown in “Get on Up” and Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall.”
(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The “King Chad” mural by artist Nikkolas Smith was unveiled on Thursday, Sept. 24 on the side of the former ESPN Zone building in the outdoor shopping center next to Disneyland.
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The mural shows Boseman and a young boy in a Black Panther mask both making the folded arm Wakanda salute.
Boseman died of cancer at the age 43 in late August. The actor was best known for playing King T’Challa in Marvel’s Black Panther and Avengers superhero movies. He also starred as baseball player Jackie Robinson in “42,” singer James Brown in “Get On Up” and Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall in “Marshall.”
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Smith worked on the Marvel-themed Avengers Campus themed land coming soon to Disney California Adventure as one of his last jobs as an Imagineer.
“Seeing Chadwick’s heart for people in person, and later discovering his courageous battle with cancer, I was inspired to create this tribute to honor his life and legacy,” reads the artist statement next to the artwork in Downtown Disney.
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Smith was on hand for the unveiling of the new art installation and posted photos of tribute to his Instagram account.
“To millions of kids, T’Challa was a legend larger than life, and there was no one more worthy to fill those shoes than Chadwick Boseman,” Smith wrote on Instagram. “I’m so thankful to be able to honor Chadwick’s life and purpose in this way.”
The Los Angeles-based concept artist, children’s book author and movie poster designer focuses on creating art that can spark conversations around social justice and inspire meaningful change, according to Smith’s biography.
The Boseman tribute will remain in Downtown Disney through Dec. 31.
