Today is a sad day for Marvel fans as they mourn the death of Chadwick Boseman, who passed away today after a 4-year battle with colon cancer.

This year has been a roller coaster of ups and downs. But this is an all new low. News of Boseman’s tragic–and untimely–death shocked fans, mostly due to the Hollywood star’s decision to keep his diagnosis a secret.

His family posted a statement on his Twitter account earlier tonight:

Boseman was diagnosed in 2016; the same year that would catapult him to fame as “Black Panther” in Captain America: Civil War. He would later reprise his role as King T’Challa in 2018’s Black Panther. The film garnered universal praise and cemented itself as one of the most important films of the decade. Boseman’s work on Black Panther would be his career’s defining moment.

“It was important to us, I didn’t know how other people would feel about it,” Boseman told Good Morning America in 2018, during a press tour to promote the film. “I knew just from the comic book what a ‘Black Panther’ movie could be, the type of impact it could have, I knew it would be a revolutionary idea. I didn’t necessarily know that people would buy out [the seats in] theaters.”

“It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life,” his family stated.

Black Panther is considered one of Marvel’s highest grossing films, making over 1.3 billion dollars worldwide at the box office. The film’s major success–both critically and financially– was enough to convince Marvel/Disney to begin working on a sequel. It was scheduled for release in May 2022. No word yet from Marvel/Disney on how they will proceed with “Phase Four” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, without one one of their big hitters.

Fans took to social media to pay their respect with the hashtag #WakandaForever-– Black Panther’s rallying cry.

He died with his family by his side.

Wakanda Forever.