Ryan Coogler Has Not Been Approached To Direct ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’
Ever since it was announced that Destin Daniel Cretton had been tapped to direct Avengers: Kang Dynasty, there have been plenty of rumors and speculation that Ryan Coogler would be handling its sequel, Avengers: Secret Wars. In a new interview, however, both Coogler and Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige have confirmed that this is not the case.
Speaking to Variety, Feige said that, even though he’d just give all of his movies to Coogler because he’s that talented, there have been no specific conversations about Secret Wars:
“Well, I would want Ryan to do anything at any time because he’s a singular talent and a great person to spend years with. But no, in all honesty, there’ve been no conversations. We’ve not spoken to him about ‘Secret Wars.’”
Ryan Coogler added the following about the speculation on him directing that movie:
“That’s crazy.”
(L-R): Alex Livinalli as Attuma and Mabel Cadena as Namora in Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
Is Ryan Coogler doing Black Panther 3 next?
So what’s next for Coogler, specifically? Is another Black Panther movie on the horizon, or is he moving away from Marvel? According to the director, he still has no idea:
“I can tell you definitively I have no idea what I’m doing next as a writer and director.”
Feige did note that he has had some conversations with Coogler about doing a potential third Black Panther movie, and that “ideas [were] pitched back and forth.” When asked if he would consider doing another movie without the director and co-writer of the first two, the producer said the following:
“I go back to what I said when we decided to make ‘Wakanda Forever’ after losing Chad. This mythology and this ensemble and these characters deserve to continue and will continue after all of us are gone, I hope, and will continue forever in movies the way it has in comics for 50-plus years.”
(L-R): Danai Gurira as Okoye and Letitia Wright as Shuri in Marvel Studios’ BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER. Photo by Eli Adé. © 2022 MARVEL.
Black Panther spin-offs for Disney Plus
We know that the mythology of the nation first introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and later explored in the first Black Panther, will be expanding beyond Wakanda Forever. Two spin-off series for Disney Plus are in reported development, one centered around Danai Gurira’s Okoye, and another focused on the nation of Wakanda as a whole. Additionally, Riri Williams, who is introduced in Wakanda Forever, will have her own show in next year’s Ironheart, which recently wrapped production in Atlanta. Coogler and Nate Moore, who also was an executive producer on the first movie and a producer on Wakanda Forever, are executive producers on that show, which stars Dominique Thorne as the title character.
Moore has said before that getting Wakanda Forever just right stalled development on the other two series, but when asked by Variety, he played it a bit coyer this time:
“This world is expansive, and there are so many great characters. Beyond what happens with this film, there are more opportunities to go back to Wakanda.
There are no shortage of ideas, let’s put it that way.”
Some of those would include characters already introduced in the movies, while others would be featuring completely new characters. For now, we will have to wait.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever opens in theaters on Friday, November 11. Ryan Coogler directed from a script he co-wrote with Joe Robert Cole (who is apparently scripting a Snoop Dogg biopic). Pre-sale numbers point to the movie having already made $45 million before the opening weekend in North America, and potentially targeting the $200M window for the three-day weekend.
Look forward to our review coming soon!
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
