According to The Wrap, Marvel is in talks to hire Joe Robert Cole to write its upcoming Black Panther movie. Cole isn’t an especially big name in the world of screenwriting (he wrote and directed the 2011 thriller Amber Lake), but there’s a reason why Marvel is confident in his writing abilities: He already works there. Cole was a member of Marvel’s in-house writer’s program, which was founded in the early days of the Cinematic Universe to plan for its future (and also spawned Guardians Of The Galaxy writer Nicole Perlman), and he also reportedly wrote an early draft of the script for the Inhumans movie.


A few months ago, Ava DuVernay was the frontrunner to direct Black Panther, but she apparently turned down the job when Marvel couldn’t guarantee her the level of creative control she wanted. The new plan, according to The Wrap‘s report, is to hold off on hiring a director until a script is in place, so hiring Cole—or anybody, at this point—is probably a good move on Marvel’s part.