Joe and Anthony Russo will return to the MCU this yr to shoot Avengers: Doomsday and, when manufacturing on that wraps, they’ll get straight on with Avengers: Secret Wars. Followers, and presumably Kevin Feige as effectively, are counting on them to “save” a franchise that’s struggled to succeed in the identical heights as 2019’s Avengers: Endgame (additionally helmed by the Russo Brothers).
Speaking to The Sunday Times about their new Netflix film, The Electrical State, the filmmakers opened up on what’s drawn them again to a world that put them on the map in 2014 with Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
“Effectively, we love the style,” Anthony defined. “Some folks wrote it off as a much less complete type of storytelling that’s extra for kids. However we consider it as related for adults, whether it is handled with maturity and complexity. That’s actually all it’s — a dedication to storytelling.”
When it was put to them that the MCU has quickly expanded since they helmed Endgame (with blended fortunes), the director responded, “Sure, the MCU has obtained fairly massive, that’s for positive. I imply, frankly, we wrestle with that very same subject. However a part of the explanation Joe and I made a decision to return is strictly what you’re speaking about. There must be extra of a central narrative.”
“That was one thing we had been very particular about once we labored with Marvel [before]. We want to convey the targeted narrative again,” Anthony added.
A part of their grasp plan is bringing Robert Downey Jr. again, not as Iron Man, however the villainous Doctor Doom. “We will’t clarify that because it’s a part of the story,” Anthony teased when the interviewer puzzled how and why the Tony Stark actor is taking part in one other character. “However there’s no person else on the earth who may play this character the best way he’s about to.”
The Russos could have Downey, contemporary off an Oscar win for his work in Oppenheimer, however most of the MCU’s heaviest hitters have moved on since 2019. That leaves the duo with lesser-known heroes to work with – a Captain America who simply starred in a film that can wrestle to succeed in $400 million worldwide, for instance – however they aren’t sweating it.
“Look, each film is tough,” Anthony acknowledged. “However we’re excited. We’ve obtained one thing to say.”
With that, Joe chimed in to supply an impassioned defence of the much-maligned superhero style. “This pattern was began by Harvey Weinstein,” he mentioned. “He vilified mainstream motion pictures to champion the artwork movies he pushed for Oscar campaigns. Well-liked movies had been profitable Oscars earlier than the mid-Nineties, then Weinstein began mudslinging campaigns. It affected how audiences view the Oscars, as a result of they’ve not seen a lot of the motion pictures. We’re in an advanced place. Issues we must always all having fun with collectively we as an alternative punch one another within the face over.”
“Like this argument that Marvel motion pictures had been killing cinema,” Joe continued. “Effectively, Marvel motion pictures gave the impression to be protecting cinemas open for fairly a very long time.”
So, can the Russos save the MCU? Star-Lord actor Chris Pratt actually appears to suppose so. “They know that it’s the mundane, human brokenness of characters that drives tales and makes the Avengers nice. They’ve this capacity to search out the humanity.”
Avengers: Doomsday is about to be launched in Might 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to reach in Might 2027.
