'Black Panther' fans including Whoopi Goldberg are asking Disney to create Wakanda-inspired areas in its theme parks

• Chadwick Boseman, who played the lead role in Marvel's "Black Panther," died of colon cancer on Friday.
• Now, fans are asking Disney to honor Boseman's legacy by adding "Black Panther"-inspired areas to its theme parks in Florida and California.
• Actor Whoopi Goldberg tweeted that Disney should re-create Wakanda, the fictional country from "Black Panther," in Disney World and Disneyland.
• While Disney has yet to comment on the requests, it's unlikely that such an area could be added to Disney World considering that Marvel previously signed away many character rights to Universal Studios.

"Black Panther" fans are encouraging Disney to honor the film's late star Chadwick Boseman throughout its US theme parks.

Boseman, the actor famous for playing King T'Challa in the Marvel movie, died of colon cancer on Friday. Now, his fans are asking Disney to install areas inspired by his character and the film's fictional country of Wakanda in Florida's Walt Disney World and California's Disneyland Park.

Even Whoopi Goldberg requested that Disney do so, writing on Twitter: "Dear people in charge of building NEW experiences at Disneyland and World, we don't really need another 'Frozen' land BUT what we could use is Wakanda. Please Disney World, Disneyland, PLEASE build in Chadwick Boseman's name WAKANDA."

'Black Panther' fans have started sharing their ideas for a Wakanda-inspired area in Disney theme parks

Some fans suggested that Disney add "Black Panther"-themed attractions to the outdated DinoLand area of Disney World's Animal Kingdom, or turn the "Avatar"-themed Pandora land into Wakanda. Others suggested that the movie's theme fits better with attractions at Epcot.

For Disneyland, fans requested that the theme park include major references to "Black Panther" in its upcoming Marvel-inspired Avengers Campus area.

It's unlikely that such a land would be built in Disney World because of a court case filed in the '90s

As Sharon Kennedy Wynne reported for the Tampa Bay Times in 2019, a "long-standing court case has kept the majority of classic Marvel characters, and even the Marvel name, away from any Disney theme park east of the Mississippi River," namely Disney World.

According to the publication, Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment in 2009, but did not secure the rights to characters signed away before then. That includes Spider-Man, Hulk, and more signed away by Marvel to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, back in the '90s.

"Neither company has confirmed it publicly, but speculation has been that Disney and Universal came to a legal understanding that allows Disney to use characters not currently referenced inside Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure for Walt Disney World attractions," the Tampa Bay Times reported. "That's why Disney is building a Guardians of the Galaxy roller coaster at Epcot."

However, this court case does not apply to Disneyland, as the theme park will eventually open its Avengers Campus attraction. As Insider's Kirsten Acuna previously reported, the land is set to feature Disney's first Spider-Man attraction, multiple superhero-themed restaurants, and meet and greets with characters from "Black Panther" and more.

Representatives for Disney World and Disneyland did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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