Michael B Jordan attended the Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards where he was honored by Coleman Domingo with the Icon Award.

TheWrap magazine: The two creative forces explain how their 13-year partnership yielded the critical and box office smash about the blues, the Jim Crow South and vampires

Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan remember their first meeting vividly. Coogler was 27, a recent USC graduate looking to cast his first feature film; Jordan was a year younger, an actor best known for roles in the TV series “The Wire,” “Friday Night Lights” and “Parenthood.” The two met in Forest Whitaker’s production office near Hollywood in 2012, and Jordan suggested they go across the street to a Starbucks to continue the conversation. Jordan, born in Southern California but raised in New Jersey, walked out of the office and straight into Cahuenga Boulevard traffic, shocking the Oakland-born-and-bred Coogler.

“I looked at him and said, Come on, they’re gonna stop!” Jordan said, laughing. “And then, man, we just hit it off.”

Coogler was seeking the lead in his movie “Fruitvale Station,” about a 22-year-old Oakland man who was shot and killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer in 2009. He wasn’t thrilled at the idea of charging across Cahuenga — “maybe they stop for you in Newark, but in California you’re putting your life in danger” — but at some point in that Starbucks, he decided to bet on this guy. “I said, ‘Hey, man, I think you’re a movie star. Let’s do this project together and show the world.’”

“It was the first time anybody told me that, without a doubt,” Jordan said. “At that point I was going around town and introducing myself and trying to get on people’s minds, but there was never somebody saying, ‘This is what I think you can do.’ I would look at myself in the bathroom mirror and try to build up the belief that I was gonna be successful, but I never knew how directors or writers or filmmakers thought about me. But when Ryan said it in that Starbucks, that was the first.”

It wasn’t the last. “Fruitvale Station” was a remarkably powerful debut, making Jordan every inch a leading man and Coogler a director to watch. Their next collaboration, the Rocky spinoff “Creed” was a critical and commercial hit. Marvel came calling and handed Coogler the reins to “Black Panther.” In return, they got themselves a $1.35 billion smash, with Chadwick Boseman as the title character and Jordan as the relentless antagonist Erik “Killmonger” Stevens, who dies in the first film but returns in spirit form in the sequel, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

Eyebrows were raised and curiosity was piqued during the press tour for Creed III when director and star Michael B. Jordan‘s representatives made a point of ensuring he wasn’t asked any questions about his mysterious Superman project.

It was announced back in the summer of 2021 that the actor and filmmaker was spearheading development on an HBO Max exclusive heavily rumored to focus on the Val-Zod iteration of the Man of Steel. Since then, we’ve heard next to nothing, while Warner Bros. was merged with Discovery not too long before James Gunn and Peter Safran were installed as co-CEOs of DC Studios.

However, what everyone else seems to be forgetting is that we’re closing in on three years since Jordan was also revealed to be producing a live-action Static Shock movie, one that was set to bring the fan favorite to the screen after years of rumor, hearsay, and failed attempts. Even though it’s about as radio silent as his Superman, Gunn did hint that he might have plans in store for the superhero after admitting that he’s a fan.

Of course, there’s no word on Static Shock being part of Chapter 1: Gods & Monsters as of yet, never mind with Jordan remaining involved, but as a brand new character backed by an A-list superstar behind the camera, it’s definitely something that should be taken under consideration. Alas, we’ll just have to wait and see how it all shakes out in the long run, but it’s surely too good an opportunity to pass up.