It's Official: Ryan Coogler Will Direct Marvel's BLACK PANTHER

Not much of a surprise here, but today Marvel officially confirmed that Creed and Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler will direct Black Panther.

“We are fortunate to have such an esteemed filmmaker join the Marvel family,” said producer Kevin Feige. “The talents Ryan showcased in his first two films easily made him our top choice to direct ‘Black Panther.’ Many fans have waited a long time to see Black Panther in his own film, and with Ryan we know we’ve found the perfect director to bring T’Challa’s story to life.”

This announcement has been expected for weeks, and it further solidifies the notion that Coogler will not have time to direct the sequel to Creed, which MGM is trying to get into theaters in November of 2017.

Chadwick Boseman will play Black Panther, and the character will make his debut in Captain America: Civil War before moving into his solo film. That solo project, which Feige referred to as a "big geo-political action adventure," is supposed to feature a primarily black cast, which will be a cool change of pace, especially when it comes to mega-budgeted comic book movies. Coogler is a fantastic director and while I'm bummed that he won't be directing Creed II, I'm excited to see him step further up the Hollywood ladder and take on a potentially awesome project like this.

Black Panther roars into theaters on February 16, 2018.