The Russo Brothers are venturing back into the world of Marvel. However, for their upcoming documentary series, the duo is more interested in the true story of the comic book company and its ongoing battle with rival DC Comics.
According to Variety, the Russos have signed on to produce a docuseries titled “Slugfest,” which will follow the true story of the rivalry between Marvel Comics and DC Comics that has spanned decades. The series will be seen exclusively on Quibi, the upcoming streaming service that is geared more towards mobile viewing, with content broken up into bite-sized 10-minute or so chunks.
“Slugfest” is based on Reed Tucker’s book “Slugfest: Inside the Epic, 50-Year Battle Between Marvel and DC.” For those unfamiliar with the rivalry, the battle has been raging since the ‘60s when the upstart Marvel Comics, led by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and other creators, started taking a cut of the superhero pie away from DC, which had been established for almost 30 years prior with characters like Batman and Superman. Since then, both companies have taken jabs, both malicious and fun, over the years, and on a few separate occasions, they’ve even worked together.
However, in recent years, with the advent of social media, the rivalry between companies has ramped up once gain, this time aided by the fans. Just a quick search on Twitter will show you that there are Marvel fans and DC Comics fans that are constantly sniping at each other, especially when it comes to the recent slate of films.
And it’s those films which make the Russos perfectly suited to tell this story. Previously, the brothers directed multiple films for Marvel Studios, including “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” and this year’s record-breaking “Avengers: Endgame.” Long story short, they know what they’re talking about.
Quibi is expected to launch in April 2020, and the service will cost $5 per month (with ads) and $8 per month (with no ads).