Marvel Studios hasn't had the disastrous few years some would have you believe but the Multiverse Saga has been undeniably hit-and-miss.
For a time, Kevin Feige appeared to be going all in on Rick and Morty writers shaping the post-Infinity Saga MCU. Jeff Loveness was tapped to write Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, while Michael Waldron looked set to take charge of Avengers: Secret Wars.
Fans and critics alike didn't appreciate Loveness' work on Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. Waldron's approach to the Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness also wasn't well-received (we later learned his contributions to Loki season 1 were overstated).
With that, Feige took a different approach and turned to the Russo Brothers. The filmmakers delivered four critical and commercial hits with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
They also needed Marvel as much as the studio needed them as their non-MCU work hasn't been hugely successful.
While some AGBO-produced features were a success - Extraction and Everything Everywhere All at Once, for example - Joe and Anthony's projects as directors haven't been. Cherry and The Gray Man drew mixed-to-negative reviews but The Electric State has been panned.
Sitting at 15% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's been called "slop" and, based on unofficial viewing figures, is far from a hit for Netflix.
While we'd advise taking this with a pinch of salt, scooper @MyTimeToShineH is reporting, "I hear Feige and Marvel are getting worried after seeing how bad The Electric State is and are starting to reconsider whether rehiring the Russos was a mistake."
Avengers: Doomsday begins shooting in a matter of weeks, with Avengers: Secret Wars set to begin production right after. It's too late to swap the Russos out for anyone else, meaning Marvel Studios has to rely on them to recapture the same magic they delivered in their previous MCU movies.
They'll be joined by writer Stephen McFeely; he penned both movies, this time without regular writing partner Christopher Markus.
"It’s the simple fact of opportunity really," Markus recently said of why he declined an MCU return. "When we started AGBO, part of the imperative was let’s look for things to adapt, ideas of our own. And by luck or preference, I wound up with a whiteboard full of things—two series of books that we had optioned, a spec script about three or four other ideas and a TV pilot that was there to be written."
"And this was prior to all that 'Avenging' coming on the horizon. But it got to the point where it was like, 'Look, I need to grow these plants or they’re going to die,' And [Marvel] is very extremely full-time."
"And so, I just said, 'Let’s just everybody be under the understanding that this is what I’m doing because [those movies] need a brain on them." he continued. "They need a guide and I love them.' So, when it came Avenging time—I mean, you don’t Avenge part-time, you don’t do anything Marvel part-time. That is a years-long commitment."
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released in May 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive in May 2027.