A surprise name has reportedly emerged as a potential front-runner to direct Marvel Studios' Avengers: Secret Wars: Black Panther's Ryan Coogler.

On The Weekly Planet Podcast with James Clement, the host disclosed the rumor from his source that Coogler is in the mix of potential directors to helm the sixth Avengers installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “And Ryan Coogler, here’s another scoop, Mason, is at the very least one of the directors, is currently in talks for Secret Wars," Clement said. "Which makes a lot of sense and yeah, the source here says, this is a reliable source, this person says ‘a fairly obvious choice.’ And it is. That makes sense.”

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The Coogler rumor comes on the heels of Marvel's San Diego Comic-Con 2022 presentation where Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige announced Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars as the closing installments of Phase 6. While Kang Dynasty was confirmed to be helmed by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings director Destin Daniel Cretton, Secret Wars remains void of a director. Should Coogler take on the massive conclusion of the Multiverse Saga, he would follow in the footsteps of not only Cretton but also the Russo Brothers, who proved their worth to Marvel with Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Captain America: Civil War before landing the incredible task of directing Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame back-to-back.

Secret Wars originated as a twelve-issue limited series for Marvel Comics that ran from May 1984 to April 1985. Conceived by Marvel's editor-in-chief Jim Shooter, the crossover saga saw the cosmic entity known as the Beyonder gather groups of Marvel superheroes and supervillains to face off against each other on the distant planet "Battleworld." The series was best known for Spider-Man's first appearance in the black symbiote costume. Decades later, a modern version of the tale arrived in 2015 from writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Esad Ribić, which expanded on the original concept to widespread acclaim.

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The Secret Wars storyline had been rumored to be the next major MCU event following the release of Avengers: Endgame in 2019. The Russo Brothers had expressed interest in coming back to the MCU to direct the film. But Feige shut down rumors of their return at Comic-Con. "They’re not connected to it... They've been very direct about that," Feige stated. With the groundbreaking success of Black Panther which earned an Oscar nomination for "Best Picture," Coogler may have the right amount of storytelling talent to take on a heavy undertaking to conclude the Multiverse Saga. Of course, Coogler will first unleash his directorial work on the sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is slated for November 11.

Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is scheduled to hit theaters on May 2, 2025, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on Nov. 7, 2025.

Source: The Weekly Planet via The Direct