Ryan Coogler calls Black Panther his most personal movie to date

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

When you become a part of something as massive as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there's always the risk that any personal touches you want to bring to a character or story will get overrun by the greater needs of the MCU. Marvel Studios' track record has been somewhat mixed when it comes to letting their creators run wild, with directors like James Gunn seemingly enjoying a lot of freedom while others, like Alan Taylor, have sworn off Marvel for good. Although it feels like Marvel's new crop of directors will be able to bring more of those personal touches to their films, perhaps due to Marvel's recent restructuring, there's still a need to make sure that these films fit into the larger universe.

While speaking with Fast Company, BLACK PANTHER director Ryan Coogler discussed making sure that his film fits in with the MCU without losing that Ryan Coogler feel.

It’s a specific challenge. What Marvel’s doing, and what you see a lot of studios doing now that Marvel has done it so successfully, is making content that exists in a particular universe, where the characters tie in and crossover, and I think that’s a great creative challenge to me—to make this movie as personal as possible. It’s going to be my most personal movie to date, which is crazy to say, but it’s completely the case. I’m obsessed with this character and this story right now, and I think it’s going to be very unique and still fit into the overall narrative that they’re establishing. I grew up as a comic book fan, and the same things used to happen in the comic books. You’d have Wolverine’s books, and they’d be so much darker and more brutal than the X-Men books, but they’d still fit in when you open the pages of the X-Men book. It’s new to movies, but it’s not new to storytelling.

BLACK PANTHER is set for a February 16, 2018 release.