The Russo Brothers have shared a bit of the behind-the-scenes story behind their return to the MCU with a pair of forthcoming Avengers films, Doomsday and Secret Wars.
In an interview with Empire Magazine published on Monday, filmmaker Anthony Russo, who’s directing the forthcoming films alongside brother Joe, shared that it “took a little time” to begin to think about Avengers: Endgame as anything but the end of their journey with the MCU, after successfully mounting that 2019 title as one of the highest grossing films of all time.
Over the years, he shared, there have been conversations with the team at Marvel — including President Kevin Feige and Co-President Louis D’Esposito — and ideas thrown around for potential new films on which to collaborate. But “really what happened was, we ended up stumbling upon an idea that activated all of us,” said Anthony. “You couldn’t see it coming until it came, and once it came it was like, ‘Well, that’s a story we need to tell.”
Reunited on the forthcoming Marvel films with screenwriter Steven McFeely — one half of the partnership of Markus and McFeely, who scripted all the prior Russo Brothers Marvel films— Joe Russo, in this week’s profile, recalls calling the latter with a “crazy idea.”
“What do you think if we all go back and do Secret Wars?” he remembers asking. “You were like, ‘F**k no. Absolutely not.’ And then you hung up. And the next morning at 7.30 you called and were like, ‘Alright, I have an idea.’”
The Russos announced their commitment to direct the next two Avengers films at Comic-Con 2024, bringing out Robert Downey Jr. to make the bombshell revelation that he, too, would be returning to the franchise — this time, as villain Doctor Doom — after seeing Iron Man die heroically in Endgame. Coming to direct that film and Avengers: Infinity War following work on a pair of lauded Captain America films — The Winter Soldier and Civil War — the Russos most recently got behind the camera on The Electric State, a new film set to premiere on Netflix on March 14. Based on Simon Stålenhag’s graphic novel, the sci-fi pic stars Millie Bobby Brown as Michelle, a teenager traversing a retro-futuristic 1990s U.S. to find her missing brother, accompanied by a robot sent by him. Chris Pratt co-stars as Keats, a drifter who aids Michelle on her journey, with Ke Huy Quan, Stanley Tucci, and Giancarlo Esposito rounding out the cast.
Before getting around to the new Avengers films, Marvel is set to release titles including Captain America: Brave New World (February 14), Thunderbolts* (May 2) and The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25).