Black Panther’s Chadwick Boseman Originally Auditioned to Play Another Marvel Superhero

Chadwick Boseman tried to get into the Marvel Cinematic Universe long before he said "Wakanda forever."

During an appearance on Tuesday's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the Black Panther star revealed that T'Challa was not the first Marvel hero he auditioned for.

As host Jimmy Fallon asked, "I was reading something about you and about Black Panther, and somewhere in the thing it said you auditioned for a different superhero for Marvel at first." Quickly confirming the rumor Fallon heard, Boseman revealed the character he originally went out for. "I did, Drax," he shared.

Drax, of course, was played by Dave Bautista in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Joking that he didn't look the part for the hulk of a character, the 21 Bridges star admitted of his failed audition, "It's about going and playing. I didn't think I was gonna get it."

The star later divulged that not getting a part you auditioned for isn't necessarily a bad thing. As he explained, "Well, sometimes, that's the way it works as an actor. You go in knowing you're not gonna get it, but you're meeting the people that, you know they might be like, 'It's not this, but we'll put him in this other thing.' So, I feel like that was one of the moments where they were like, 'Hey, we could use him later.'"

And of course, that's what ended up happening for Boseman, whose performance as the King of Wakanda became an instant hit.

Now, assemble yourself and watch the full interview to hear the story about the day Boseman and the rest of the Avengers: Infinity War stars filmed their infamous death scenes.

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