Alright, as you know, late in the day yesterday, in a Marvel shocker, the Anthony and Joe Russo, aka Russo Brothers, are coming back to Marvel, and potentially in a big way. Having left Marvel Studios to create their own studio, AGBO, and released their own blockbusters like “The Gray Man,” it was thought the Russos had graduated and moved on to focus on their own IP. But apparently, they’re now in talks to direct “Avengers 5” and “Avengers: Secret Wars.”
Following THR’s exclusive last night, Deadline chimed in with a few details and suggested the Russos would be more involved with Marvel’s ongoing strategy beyond the two mammoth ‘Avengers’ films they will likely direct.
READ MORE: Marvel Surprise! The Russo Brothers Are In Talks To Direct Next 2 ‘Avengers’ Films
The trade reported that Marvel has “made plans to bring back its largest-grossing directing duo in a big way… and are being brought into the fold at Marvel Studios on various fronts.”
This sounds a lot like what Joss Whedon’s former role with Marvel was early on. After successfully directing “The Avengers” and lining up for his next gig “Avengers: Age Of Ultron,” Whedon, at one point, was assigned a Marvel strategy godfather-esque role where he would give notes and feedback on all scripts, even sometimes punching them up and adding rewrite bits. Whedon’s role was to oversee the MCU along with Marvel’s Kevin Feige and their producers. However, it didn’t last long; Whedon had a poor experience on ‘Age Of Ultron’ with excessive Marvel notes and decided to part ways with them afterward.
While being “brought into the fold on various fronts” is a bit vague, it does suggest some kind of overseer role and potentially executive producing or overseeing some projects.
Another interesting wrinkle to the story last night was a report by Jeff Sneider, formerly of Variety. While we’ll file it under rumor, for now, the reporter added some interesting details in his newsletter.
Among them was the supposed news that the Russo Brothers approached Marvel, and not the other way around, and that Marvel was struggling to find a director for ‘Avengers 5.’ This makes sense. For one, it’s been rumored that the ‘Avengers 5’ script keeps changing, and it’s already changed its title from “Avengers: Kang Dynasty,” and reportedly changing focus away from the villain to a new one (following the firing of Jonathan Majors and Marvel apparently trying to distance themselves from that controversy).
For two, Destin Destin Cretton (“Shang-Chi”) dropped out of directing that film, ‘Avengers 5,’ ages ago, and there’s been nary word of a replacement since aside from Shawn Levy, who was apparently briefly in talks.
So, the Russos make a lot of sense on many fronts. Since going on their own to ABGO, they’ve had nothing but flops and need a hit, plus they’ve publicly always said “Secret Wars” was their dream gig and fave comic book as children. And Marvel is under the gun. The film hopes to shoot early next year in order to make their May 2026 release date (these massive films take at least a year to make), so they need not only directors asap but writers too.
Enter Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who wrote all four of the Russo Brothers previous Marvel movies, including “Avengers: Infinity War,” and “Avengers: Endgame,” two of the highest-grossing films ever. We already predicted they’d be back. The Russos and M&M are a bit of a package deal (and all four of them co-run ABGO), and this new report says they will indeed return into the fold. Again, not much of a surprise. In The Russos, they also have a directing pair that understand story dynamics. While not credited as writers on these films, it’s clear from various past interviews that all four of them work together to concoct these stories in brainstorming sessions that M&M then executes. It feels like the smart move for Marvel (rumors are swirling that current writer ‘Avengers 5’. and “Secret Wars” writer Michael Waldron has left those projects, and he wasn’t mentioned in last night’s report about the Russos returning, so it already is starting to smell legit).
The report also suggests 66 characters could come back, but that might be for ‘Secret Wars’ as ‘5’ is rumored to be smaller and more stand-alone than the following movie. One of them may be Jeremy Renner who is said to want back in badly as Hawkeye.
Finally, the big enchilada of it all—and yes, we’ve buried the lede on purpose for spoiler reasons. While insiders denied it, the report says that one way to bring back Robert Downy Jr. in a new and interesting way was to bring him back as Doctor Doom instead of a Tony Stark multiverse variant.
What’s interesting about that is that we at the Playlist recently heard the same rumor but didn’t report it. Apparently, the word was Downey, as Doom was something suggested for the multiverse traveling “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which is already overflowing with cameos. But apparently, Robert Downey Jr. turned down the idea. Now, could the Russos, who he knows well and has been directed by in three Marvel movies, now be able to convince him to take that role for “Secret Wars”? Or will they simply bring him back as a Tony Stark variant from another universe? Downey Jr. says he’d be open to returning, and the only issues seems to be that every Marvel fan in the universe is already expecting him to return in “Avengers: Secret Wars” so does that make it too obvious a move? Time will tell, but file this all under rumor, except for: definitely expect Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely to return as writers and keep an eye on what the Russo’s overall role will be at Marvel.
Perhaps that will be revealed during Marvel’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con at the end of next month. More when it happens.