John Robert Cole (American Horror Story) is in talks with Marvel Studios to write a Black Panther film, which is slated for release on July 6, 2018.  Cole is an African-American filmmaker who directed the 2011 indie thriller Amber Lake and who has been part of Marvel Studios’ in-house writer development project where he wrote a script for an Inhumans movie.  Chadwick Boseman is set to play T’Challa, the eponymous superhero, and Andy Serkis will probably reprise his role as Ulysses Klaw from Avengers: Age of Ultron, but other than that, little is known about the Black Panther movie.

According to The Wrap, Marvel Studios wants to make sure that there will be a diverse team of creators working on the Black Panther film, which will be Marvel’s first film featuring a superhero of color.  The site reports that Marvel offered the Black Panther film to director Ana DuVernay (Selma), but she turned the project down because “it really wasn’t going to be an Ana DuVernay film.” 

After that reversal, Marvel Studios decided to hire a writer and create a Black Panther screenplay that they can take to directors.  F. Gary Gray’s name has been mentioned in conjunction with the Black Panther project, but he is directing Fast & Furious 8, which is due out in April of 2017, which probably takes him out of the running to direct the Black Panther film.