As we're sure you recall, a plethora of revealing concept art from a renowned Marvel Studios collaborator was accidentally shared online last week, and quite a few of the images appeared to feature characters and scenarios from upcoming Avengers movies, Doomsday and Secret Wars.
Though the artwork wasn't actually labelled with the titles of the above movies, it was marked "Concept and Development Work (2022 - Early 2024)" on the artist's website, and it was generally assumed that the character designs for the likes of Robert Downey Jr.'s take on Doctor Doom, along with Star-Lord, Hulk, She-Hulk, Skaar, the new Black Panther and several members of the Young Avengers would inform what we saw on the screen in 2026/2027.
Well, directors Joe and Anthony Russo have now denied that this concept art has anything to do with their upcoming MCU movies.
When asked if fans should be wary of being spoiled by the artwork in question during an interview with THR, Joe said: "No, because that artwork was not from Avengers: Doomsday or Secret Wars," with Anthony adding, "Nothing spoiling in there. That’s not our concept art."
Marvel certainly hit a surprising amount of social media accounts with DMCA strikes for art that had nothing to do with the studio.
The Russos were also asked if they still use the "baseball card" technique for deciding on which characters they plan to utilize in the movies.
"Now they have magnets on them so we can put ‘em on a board and look at ‘em," said Joe. "It’s the only way to keep track of the amount of characters that we’re working with."
Anthony added: "And as far as how do we look at who’s in the movies, it’s just a long creative process of exploring where we want to take the story. What is the most surprising and exciting area for us to push into, and which characters help us in that effort?"
Finally, the filmmakers were asked if they are approaching these next Avengers movies any differently given the "changes to the theatrical landscape since Endgame."
"We can’t control the economic environment," said Joe. "We can’t control what’s happening in the world around the time of the release. We can’t control the audience’s desire to leave their homes or not. All we can do is make the best movie possible in the hope that it excites them."
Let's hope they have better luck with their return to the MCU than they did with Netflix's The Electric State in that regard.
Avengers: Doomsday arrives in theaters on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027. Both films will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Being able to create stories and explore characters within the Marvel Universe fulfilled a life-long dream of ours, and we discovered a powerful connection with audiences in each film that we made. We’re thrilled to collaborate once again with Kevin, Lou and the entire Marvel team to bring this epic adventure in storytelling to new and surprising places for both the fans and ourselves”, said The Russos in a statement after the SDCC panel.
Have another look at some photos Downey Jr. shared to Instagram after the big reveal below.