- Filmmakers return inspired by a storyline idea for Secret Wars
- “That’s A Story We Need To Tell”
- They’re set to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars
The Russo Brothers, Joe and Anthony, are making their return to the MCU, following their previous success with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The latter grossed over $2.7 billion worldwide and was briefly the highest-grossing film of all time in 2019.
It was unknown whether the directing duo – who form a superhero team of their own with screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely – were done after Avengers: Endgame, particularly as their recent focus has been on productions through their own AGBO production company.
With ABGO releases such as Cherry (2021) and The Gray Man (2022), both directed by the Russos, failing to live up to expectations, for some, a return might have felt inevitable and somewhat a homecoming for the brothers.
The Russo Brothers Inspired
Speaking to Empire, Anthony said, “Endgame was the end, and it took a little time for us to begin to think about it as something other than an end. We’re very close with Kevin and Lou (D’Esposito, Marvel Studios’ Co-President) and the entire Marvel team and we’ve had conversations through the years. We’ve talked about a lot of ideas.”
Read more: All we know about Avengers: Doomsday
Ahead of their latest project, The Electric State, coming to Netflix in March 2025, the pair, joined by Markus and McFeely explained how the return eventually came about.
Joe Russo: “Really what happened was, we ended up stumbling upon an idea that activated all of us. 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’”.
Writer McFeely took some initial encouragement to get on board with it, as Joe Russo goes on to explain: “I remember calling (McFeely) and said, ‘Hey, crazy idea. What do you think if we all go back and do Secret Wars? (McFeely) was like, ‘Absolutely not.’ And then you hung up. And the next morning at 7.30 you called and were like, ‘Alright, I have an idea.’”
McFeely will reunite with the Russos as the sole writer on Doomsday and Secret Wars, but Markus is absent from these as he will be keeping things running at AGBO.
Opportunity To Refresh
Despite Marvel’s success in 2024 with Deadpool & Wolverine – which achieved a record-breaking global opening of $438 million in its first weekend – there’s been some criticism in recent years of ‘superhero fatigue’.
Read more: Marvel to recast Black Panther’s T’Challa?
The return of the Russo’s could be seen as an opportunity for them to breathe new life into the genre and revitalize the franchise. If history is anything to go by, the films are certainly in safe hands.
Avengers: Doomsday – which will also see the return of Robert Downey Jr, though this time as villain Doctor Doom – is scheduled for release in May 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars is set for May 2027.
