- Russo brothers said no to Robert Downey Jr
- Downey Jr will return to MCU as Doctor Doom
- The Russos previously directed Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War
They may have helped Marvel generate roughly enough money to wipe out the combined debt of every nation in the world four times over, but the Russo brothers were not overly keen on making a return to the MCU.
Having directed multi-billion dollar behemoths such as Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Infinity War, Joe and Anthony Russo have cemented themselves as royalty in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and across superhero movies as a whole. However, when it came to bringing the Avengers back for Doomsday and Secret Wars, they were initially ready to hand the baton onto another director to take the reigns.
Read more: Russo brothers discuss Tony Stark Doctor Doom link in Avengers: Doomsday
During an interview with Omelete, Joe Russo admitted that they turned down Marvel CEO Kevin Feige’s pitch for them to return after having the idea for Robert Downey Jr, who had played Iron Man since 2008, to take on the new role of Doctor Doom.
âThat was Kevin [Feige],â Joe Russo explained. âInterestingly enough about that, that conversation was had a while ago.
âThen Robert tried to talk us into doing [âDoomsdayâ and âSecret Warsâ] and we said âno,’. We just didnât have a story. We didnât have a way in. We were resistant for a while.â
However, once frequent collaborater and screenwriter Stephen McFeely pitched the Russo brothers his own story ideas for the next two Avengers pictures, the Russos knew they had their way back in.
âOne day, Stephen McFeely, one of our chief collaborators, said, âI have an idea,ââ Joe added. âWe went, âThatâs the story!â That story has to be told; itâs a really powerful story!â
Avengers: Doomsday is set to hit cinemas in 2026, with Secret Wars following up a year later, in 2027.
