Exclusive: Michael B. Jordan In Talks To Direct Marvel Movie
Michael B. Jordan may soon be in charge of directing a Marvel film.
This article is more than 2 years old
Michael B. Jordan is currently in negotiations to direct an upcoming movie for Marvel, which would further cement his relationship with the mega-popular studio. According to our trusted and proven sources, Michael B. Jordan may soon be helming one of the many feature films on Marvel’s slate, but that just raises the question of whether it is one of the announced projects or a mysterious new one. As it is, this is also another step forward in the actor’s rapidly expanding career as a director and producer.
Most famously, Michael B. Jordan has already appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Erik Stevens aka Killmonger, the American cousin of Chadwick Boseman’s Wakandan King T’Challa in Black Panther. His performance as the fanatical, violent, yet sympathetic Killmonger was widely acclaimed as one of the most charismatic portrayals of a villain (if not any kind of character) in Marvel’s comic book adaptations to date, so it is not surprising that Disney would be trying to get him back into the fold in some capacity.
Of course, Michael B. Jordan has already reprised the role of Killmonger in two episodes of the Disney+ series Marvel’s What If…?, though only in voiceover for the animated series. Still, that a star as acclaimed as Michael B. Jordan would return to the role where Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, and Scarlett Johansson all demured indicates that he is pretty willing to continue working with Marvel Studios. If the studio sweetens the pot by allowing him a directorial role, that would seem to make it increasingly likely that he could sign back on.
We have previously reported that Michael B. Jordan is set to appear in several upcoming Marvel projects, so clearly there are already plans for the star to come back as Killmonger (barring the somewhat unlikely possibility that he would be playing another character entirely). We speculated that there were several likely candidates for Michael B. Jordan to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, namely the Don Cheadle film (formerly a planned series) Armor Wars or Secret Invasion, the Disney+ series starring Samuel L. Jackson and a whole lot of Skrulls imitating people.
However, the single most probably thing is for Michael B. Jordan to show up in the far-off Avengers: Secret Wars film, which is already promising to feature appearances from essentially anyone who has ever appeared in a Marvel project, including Ian McKellen as Magneto, Chris Evans as Captain America, and maybe even Nicolas Cage as Ghost Rider.
Michael B. Jordan is going to be making his directorial debut with Creed III, along with fellow Marvel star Jonathan Majors. It is a pretty common thing these days for stars of a certain level to make the shift to directing films, presumably motivated by a desire for creative control or the perceived level-up of being in charge of a project. We shall have to see how the success of Creed III affects Michael B. Jordan’s desire to keep directing films, and what that could mean for his future at Marvel.
