If Hollywood was slow to recognize Jordan’s leading-man appeal, he and Coogler built something together that was irrefutable. Now, finally, Jordan has the capital to do what he wants: He just finished shooting the fact-based drama “Just Mercy,” a star turn supported by the Oscar winners Brie Larson and Jamie Foxx, and hopes to soon mount a remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair,” another potential franchise that can take advantage of his talents for action and romance. But there is still a nagging sense that all this success could go away.

“I come from North New Jersey, where nothing’s promised,” Jordan said. The representatives who now labor on his behalf work at one of the agencies that once passed on him, a fact that makes Jordan chuckle. Are they the same agents who ignored Jordan the first time? “No, but they know the ones who did it,” and they give their colleagues grief about it, too.

Now, Jordan wants to control all the elements of his life and career that used to be out of his grasp. “I’m constantly building the foundation so the machine can run itself,” he said. That means starting his own production company, which recently worked with Warner Bros. to adopt a studiowide inclusion policy. But he also wants to create a chain of restaurants, a video game and a charter school. For “Creed II,” Jordan even leveraged the first film’s success to create his own Nike shoe.

Jordan’s penchant for control extends to hiring a videographer to document his life, a power move reserved for top-tier stars like Beyoncé who seek to shape their own narrative. “This is a time I’m not going to be able to get back,” he said. “You need to have tunnel vision in order to stay locked on, so it’d be cool 10 or 20 years from now to look back and have pieces of these moments when I can really appreciate it. This is my story, you know?”

Is there anything he’s not in control of now? “Press,” Jordan laughed. (You may become more circumspect when people are scrutinizing your every move, a lesson Jordan has learned the hard way after his comments on dating and black folklore drew controversy.) And there is another significant career benchmark he has yet to attain, his first Oscar nomination. “Black Panther,” poised to be a formidable awards contender this year, may change that.