Ryan Coogler

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q7383978: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only person by that name on Wikidata.

Counted as director, the making department they hold the most credits in. The films the hosts said they directed, which the two lists below run through too: Creed (2015); Black Panther (2018); Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022); Sinners (2025); Fruitvale Station; n/a.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Black Panther (2018): 2 lines, within their own work

  1. theme (ancestral plane parallel) · through Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), which they directed: Black Panther ⇒ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (the host's read). Van explains that in the first film T'Challa saw his father on the ancestral plane because he had questions for him, while Shuri saw Killmonger because she wanted revenge, the same motive Killmonger had.
    “Shuri did not want to be the Black Panther to protect Wakanda.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Is Here! · 0:32:14 · Van Lathan (0.85 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (CGI weakness) · through Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), which they directed: Black Panther ⇒ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (the host's read). The first film's video-game-looking CGI showdown is doubled down on in the sequel, with flying robots and an aircraft-carrier fight.
    “You know, it just kind of looked like a video game a little bit.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Is Here! · 0:46:42 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)

Rocky (1976): 2 lines

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Creed (2015), which they directed: Rocky ⇒ Creed (the host's read). Merchant says Creed repeated Rocky's trick of making you care about the character before the fighting.
    “when they rebooted it with Creed, I think they did the same thing”
    The Big Picture · Pro Wrestling Goes to the Movies, Plus Stephen Merchant on ‘Fighting With My Family’ | Interview (Ep. 130) · 0:46:07 · Stephen Merchant (0.95 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage) · through Creed (2015), which they directed: Rocky ⇒ Creed (the host's read). Creed closely follows Rocky's structure, but opens with Creed obviously able to fight, unlike Rocky's grim opening bout.
    “in Creed, which very closely follows some of the structures of rocky.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Rocky’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Van Lathan · 0:38:15 · Chris Ryan (0.45 sure it was them)

Captain America: Civil War (2016): 1 line

  1. theme (character introduction) · through Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), which they directed: Captain America: Civil War ⇒ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (the host's read). Van says Black Panther was handled better in Civil War than in his own movie, and that Civil War served as his origin; Ironheart's introduction here does not land the same way.
    “Black Panther, to me, was portrayed better in Civil War than he was in the original Black Panther movie.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Is Here! · 0:37:09 · Van Lathan (0.85 sure it was them)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · through Black Panther (2018), which they directed: Captain America: The First Avenger ⇒ Black Panther (the host's read). Vibranium, the shield metal, leads to Wakanda; adamantium is the X-Men analogue the MCU couldn't use.
    “So instead they use vibranium as their super metal.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Captain America: The First Avenger · 1:27:32 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Iron Man 2 (2010): 1 line

  1. theme (character introduction) · through Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), which they directed: Iron Man 2 ⇒ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (the host's read). Van says the MCU has introduced characters inside other movies before, like Black Widow in Iron Man 2.
    “Black Widow makes her a parent, her 1st appearance.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Is Here! · 0:37:22 · Van Lathan (0.80 sure it was them)

Skyfall (2012): 1 line

  1. industry (industry) · through Creed (2015), which they directed: Skyfall ⇒ Creed (the host's read). Bringing a prestige director to a franchise leads to Coogler doing Creed and Black Panther.
    “It leads to things like Ryan Kugler does Creed in Black Panther”
    The Rewatchables · ‘Skyfall’ With Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, and Amanda Dobbins · 0:45:54 · Chris Ryan (0.40 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022): 2 lines, within their own work

  1. theme (ancestral plane parallel) · through Black Panther (2018), which they directed: Black Panther ⇒ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (the host's read). Van explains that in the first film T'Challa saw his father on the ancestral plane because he had questions for him, while Shuri saw Killmonger because she wanted revenge, the same motive Killmonger had.
    “Shuri did not want to be the Black Panther to protect Wakanda.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Is Here! · 0:32:14 · Van Lathan (0.85 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (CGI weakness) · through Black Panther (2018), which they directed: Black Panther ⇒ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (the host's read). The first film's video-game-looking CGI showdown is doubled down on in the sequel, with flying robots and an aircraft-carrier fight.
    “You know, it just kind of looked like a video game a little bit.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Is Here! · 0:46:42 · Amanda Dobbins (0.70 sure it was them)

Ironheart (2025): 1 line

  1. unmapped (backdoor pilot) · through Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), which they directed: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ⇒ Ironheart (the host's read). Amanda feels the Riri Williams plot turns the movie into a backdoor pilot for the Ironheart show, which weighs down an already crowded film.
    “the movie also simultaneously kind of becomes like a backdoor pilot for the Ironheart TV show.”
    The Big Picture · ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ Is Here! · 0:35:38 · Amanda Dobbins (0.85 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Directing (15) everyone in directing

Other (2) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

career (1)

  1. career (career): Ryan Coogler → Steven Spielberg. Coogler is called the new Spielberg for innate commercial instincts plus personal film-making.
    “this is the key to Kugler, which is why I think he's the new Spielberg, is that he innately has very commercial instincts.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Iron Man 3 · 0:15:01 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

contrast (1)

  1. contrast (contrast): Steven Soderbergh → Ryan Coogler. Soderbergh can bang out movies fast because he shoots and cuts them himself, unlike Coogler's big-crew, big-star productions.
    “Like Soderberg shoots and edits his movies. He holds the camera when he makes the movie.”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:26:37 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

what-if (2)

  1. what-if (what-if): Ryan Coogler → After Hours. Bill wishes Coogler would make his own After Hours, a small one-day weird movie.
    “I just wish I could see Ryan Cougars after hours where he's just like, yeah, it's just everything takes place in one day”
    The Rewatchables · ‘After Hours’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey · 0:27:09 · Bill Simmons (0.60 sure it was them)
  2. what-if (what-if): Ryan Coogler → Michael B. Jordan. Shoemaker says a Junkyard Dog biopic from Coogler and Jordan would be really cool.
    “Ryan Kugler and Michael B. Jordan doing that would be really cool.”
    The Big Picture · Pro Wrestling Goes to the Movies, Plus Stephen Merchant on ‘Fighting With My Family’ | Interview (Ep. 130) · 0:19:56 · David Shoemaker (0.70 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

None.