Director and screenwriter Ryan Coogler has only made five feature films to date, and all five of them have featured Michael B. Jordan. Coogler and Jordan have proven to be a potent pairing, as evidenced by Sinners’ stronger-than-expected performance at the box office over the weekend. That film managed to unseat this year’s current box-office champion, A Minecraft Movie, in its third weekend.
Now that Sinners is well on its way to becoming a hit, it’s time to look back at all five of the Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan collaborations and rank them from worst to best. Somehow, we doubt that Jordan will be able to star in all of Coogler’s subsequent movies. However, this collaboration won’t be ending anytime soon. So far, Coogler and Jordan bring out the best in each other.
5. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Despite his character’s death in the previous movie, Jordan briefly reprised his role as Eric Killmonger in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. That sequel is largely a tribute to Chadwick Boseman, who passed away from colon cancer in 2020. Since Boseman couldn’t reprise his role as T’Challa, his character was killed off in Wakanda Forever‘s opening scene, leaving his sister, Shuri (Letitia Wright), to mourn for him before assuming his mantle as the new Black Panther.
Jordan makes the most of his appearance as he challenges Shuri about how she’s going to respond to the attack on her family and her nation. It’s clear that even in the afterlife, Killmonger hasn’t changed. And he seems to have awareness of what’s happening on Earth after his death. Shuri may not have wanted to encounter Killmonger on the Ancestral Plane, but his presence did influence her. Jordan’s role is minimal, so Wakanda Forever ranks last on our list of his collaborations with Coogler.
Watch Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on Disney+.
4. Creed (2015)
In 2015, Coogler’s Creed demonstrated a brilliant way to revive the Rocky franchise. The first of three films established that the late Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) had an illegitimate son, Adonis “Donnie” Creed. And Coogler turned to Jordan to bring the character to life.
Because Donnie grew up without his father, he felt the need to follow in Apollo’s footsteps as a boxer. Sylvester Stallone reprised his role as Rocky Balboa, Apollo’s former rival turned friend, who became Donnie’s mentor and trainer in this film. The emotional bond that develops between Donnie and Rocky is compelling and cathartic. There are real emotions in this boxing flick, and it’s a worthy addition to the Rocky films.
Watch Creed on Prime Video.
3. Sinners (2025)
For their fifth film together, Coogler decided that the perfect co-star for Jordan was Jordan himself! Sinners features Jordan as twins Elijah “Smoke” Moore and Elias “Stack” Moore, both of whom are World War I veterans and former associates of Chicago gangster Al Capone. In 1932, the Moore brothers are looking to start over by returning to their hometown in Mississippi to open a juke joint.
Because this film has only recently been released, we’re going to refrain from sharing too many spoilers. It’s enough to say that the brothers encounter a supernatural evil that’s more dangerous than anything they’ve dealt with before. Jordan gave two great performances a film that has quickly become one of the few original movies to do very well in 2025.
Sinners is now playing in theaters.
2. Black Panther (2018)
Jordan made a huge impression as Eric Killmonger in the first Black Panther by portraying the film’s villain as someone who really saw himself as the hero of the story. Coogler made Killmonger’s backstory more tragic, which went a long way towards getting the audience to sympathize with the bad guy. But this so-called villain also had radical ideas that the most technologically advanced nation on Earth should do more to help the oppressed Black people on the planet. Killmonger intended to use Wakanda’s weapons to lead a global uprising.
Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa was a very thoughtful hero and a great foil for Killmonger. In the end, T’Challa even decides that Killmonger was right about Wakanda’s responsibilities, even if he didn’t share Killmonger’s desire to use violence to achieve his goals. Jordan’s final scene in the film also gave Killmonger a memorable exit from the MCU, so much so that fans clamored for his return. Jordan even reprised his role as Killmonger in Marvel’s What If? animated series.
Watch Black Panther on Disney+.
1. Fruitvale Station (2013)
For his directorial debut, Fruitvale Station, Coogler cast Jordan as Oscar Grant III, a young Black man who was shot and killed in 2009 while he was detained and restrained by transit authorities in Oakland, California. The film follows Grant on the last day of his life as he tries to figure out a way to move forward.
Fruitvale Station doesn’t present Grant as a paragon of virtue, and he’s a complicated guy who has made mistakes. But at no point did Grant do anything to deserve what happened to him. This is a tragic story about a man whose life was ended too soon, and it put both Coogler and Jordan on the map as major players in Hollywood.
Rent or buy Fruitvale Station on Prime Video.
