Ryan Coogler is considered one of the greatest filmmakers in the world.
Though his original path focused on football, a creative writing course turned his attention to short films, which eventually led to his 2013 feature-length directorial debut, Fruitvale Station. Throughout his career, Coogler has stayed true to his people, true to his family, and true to the artform, resurrecting the Rocky franchise in 2015 with the Michael B. Jordan-led Creed and bringing the MCU’s Black Panther to life with integrity.
With his latest film Sinners earning 16 Oscar nominations, including for its direction, anyone who wasn’t familiar with Coogler can and should get familiar his filmography now. Here are all of Ryan Coogler’s movies ranked.
5.Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Starring: Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Mabel Cadena, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Martin Freeman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Angela Bassett
Coogler’s lone sequel, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever serves as a powerful addition to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, who passed away in 2020 after a private battle with colon cancer. Early in the film, Shuri (Wright) is unable to save her brother T’Challa (Boseman) after being wounded inbattle, shaking the kingdom of Wakanda to its core and deeply impacting her, the one person in Wakanda entrusted with all the answers.
Coogler was not only responsible for navigating the transition from T’Challa as the Black Panther to Shuri, but also for introducing Riri Williams ahead of the Ironheart series on Disney+ and setting the stage for Namor and the underwater world of Atlantis. The fact that he accomplished all of this while delivering epic battles (like Okoye and Attuma, FTW) and creating the sixth-highest grossing film of 2022, resulting in Ruth E. Carter’s second Oscar and Angela Bassett’s second Golden Globe, highlights Coogler’s ability to collaborate with the right people when it’s time to get the job done.
4.Fruitvale Station (2013)
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Kevin Durand, Chad Michael Murray, Ahna O'Reilly, Octavia Spencer
Early on New Year’s Day in 2009 in Oakland, California, 22-year-old Oscar Grant III was shot and killed on a BART platform by Officer Johannes Mehserle. Grant, like many Black men and women before him, was immortalized in death, another name added to the long list that eventually prompted Black people to demand that America remember that Black Lives Matter. For his debut, Coogler—an Oakland native himself—chose to tell the story of Grant’s last day, which includes dealing with his girlfriend after cheating on her, deciding between hitting the streets or continuing to grind for a good job to improve his and his daughter’s future, and celebrating his mother’s birthday. Knowing how Grant’s story will end isn’t the point; Coogler chose to focus on how Grant was living.
3.Black Panther (2018)
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Sterling K. Brown, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Andy Serkis
During the first great MCU run, Black Panther was a crowning achievement. Pulling in $1.35 billion at the global box office, it was the first MCU film to win an Oscar (taking home three, including giving Ruth E. Carter her first), and was the first superhero film to be nominated for Best Picture. Boseman had already been seen on-screen as T’Challa, but Coogler was the man who delved into the rich history of Africa to create the Wakanda you now see in the MCU. This was accomplished by making T’Challa more like James Bond than Tony Stark, allowing Boseman to seamlessly transition between playing detective and defeating foes in battle. It brought the queen Angela Bassett to the MCU, and provided Michael B. Jordan with the rare opportunity to play the bad guy. Multiple missions accomplished!
2.Creed (2015)
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Anthony Bellew
Driven by the love his father had for the series, Coogler found a way to spin-off the iconic Rocky franchise and birth a new franchise. (Perhap that’s why Marvel felt T’Challa was safe in Coogler’s hands.) Transforming Michael B. Jordan into Adonis Creed, the son Apollo Creed hid from the world, was a brilliant touch. Creed tells the tale of a young fighter with a chip on his shoulder pursuing his dream, which means seeking out his father’s greatest opponent, Rocky Balboa (in a performance that Stallone won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination). Coogler and Jordan made magic together again, pulling no punches to the face or the gut, modernizing a classic franchise.
1.Sinners (2025)
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Miles Caton, Jack O'Connell, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Benson Miller, Delroy Lindo
At the time, Coogler’s deal with Warner Bros. for Sinners was unprecedented; insiders were shocked that the rights for the film would revert back to the filmmaker after 25 years, and that he got final cut and first-dollar gross in his deal. Some believed the studio system was done for, assuming that the studios would start handing out these kinds of deals to every director with an idea.
But Coogler’s track record is different; he’s the man behind the billion-dollar box office of Black Panther, the man who brought Rocky back. Coogler is certified, both at the box office and during awards season, and after Sinners received a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations, it was hard to call Warner Bros. goofy for picking up the film. A story about twin brothers (both played by Jordan) attempting to open a juke joint in the midst of a vampire invasion in 1930s Mississippi, this is Coogler’s opus. (The opening scene with the cigarette alone is a small masterpiece on its own.) Maybe the rest of the industry was afraid because, once Coogler unleashed this monster, they knew there was no stopping him now.