Ryan Coogler has been confirmed to write and direct to sequel to 'Black Panther', putting to bed months of speculation as to whether or not he was going to return.

The director had exited the sequel to 'Creed', passing the director's chair on to Steven Caple Jr., and there was talk that Coogler could possibly do the same with 'Black Panther'. However, Marvel and Disney often go above and beyond to ensure the creative forces behind a movie stay put, and obviously made the right deal for Coogler to take on the sequel.

More often than not, a deal is signed almost on the week of release or in the weeks after, however Ryan Coogler and Marvel didn't strike a sequel deal some nine months after 'Black Panther' was first released, fuelling rumours that Coogler was out and a 'Black Panther' sequel was unlikely. After all, the character did turn into dust at the end of 'Avengers: Infinity War', so it would have made sense.

At any rate, no release date or plot details have been revealed so far for 'Black Panther 2', however sources speaking to THR claim that production will kick off in late 2019, early 2020 with a release date likely to put it somewhere around 2021.