The 2022 ComicBook.com Gold Issue Award for Best Director was one of the tightest races we had this year. There were so many film directors (both veteran and new) who came out of the pandemic with renewed vigor and appreciation for making movies, and/or dedication to getting a particular film made for some deeper (or higher) purpose. With that level of passion on display all over screens big and small, narrowing things down to a list of nominees was hard enough – selecting a final winner was an all-out battle.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Our list of nominees for the 2022 Golden Issue Award for Best Director included Ryan Coogler, who paid a beautiful tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman, and opened some big new (undersea) doors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Sam Raimi tapped back into his Spider-Man directing days to give MCU fans the wild ride of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Matt Reeves took on the monumental challenge of launching the first Batman movie franchise since Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy; Domee Shi let Disney get more diverse and mature with Turning Red, and Daniel Kwan
and Daniel Scheinert let Michelle Yeoh shine bright in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
All in all, it was a pretty good year in film, making it that much harder for us to decide which filmmaker deserved the highest form of recognition for their effort.
The 2022 Golden Issue Award Best Director Winner
- Ryan Coogler, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- The Daniels, Everything Everywhere All At Once – WINNER
- Sam Raimi, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
- Matt Reeves, The Batman
- Domee Shi, Turning Red
Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert are the winners of our Best Director Award for 2022. Everything Everywhere All at Once has every chance of being a major season contender, having already earned six Golden Globe nominations (at the time of writing this) and is included in numerous prestigious critics lists in categories as high as Best Picture, Best Director, Best Lead Actress (Yeoh) and Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan).
We picked “The Daniels” as our Best Directors for 2022 because in the midst of so many major franchises trying to tell stories about the multiverse, alternate timelines, and different paths our lives could take, Everything Everywhere All at Once took all of that fantastical cosmic fantasy and made it more action-packed, funny, heartfelt and personal than any of the other big franchise films, all on a budget of $25 million (if not less). Michelle Yeoh has been an icon for decades, but this is the first film that truly put the full breadth of her skills as an actress and martial artist on display. Finally, the sheer originality and comic book pulp goodness that is infused into Everything Everywhere All at Once makes The Daniels a pair of directors to watch, as they clearly could do some great thing for the comic book movie genre.
