Despite shifting focus to their AGBO endeavours after Avengers: Endgame was released in 2019, the Russo Brothers have returned to the MCU to helm Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
The Playlist recently caught up with the filmmakers to learn more about what led to that and Joe admitted that neither he nor Anthony are necessarily feeling the pressure. Instead, they're fully invested in telling the right story.
"We definitely try to - I mean, we did so many of those movies in a row that you sort of forget about the pressure," Joe explained. "The job is so all-encompassing and so intense that you can’t really think about, 'Well, what are people going to feel or think about this?' All you can think about is, 'Is this a good story that we want to tell or not? Why are we doing it?'"
In fact, it was falling in love with the story they created that sold the Russos on reassembling the Avengers. "So we’re exclusively focused on the storytelling right now," Joe said. "And that’s the thing that brought us back - an idea for a story where we went, 'That’s a really, really interesting story to tell.'"
He added, "And now we’re just focused on executing that idea. Pressure and fear usually make for very poor decision-making. So hopefully we just stay calm and keep making the stories the way we like to see them."
The Multiverse Saga hasn't had quite the same strong throughline as the Infinity Saga. In that, Thanos was set up as the big bad six years before Avengers: Infinity War was released. This time, Kang the Conqueror was meant to headline these new movies but has since been swapped out for Doctor Doom.
Some fans have complained about the switch, but likey forget that even Thanos only had three minutes of screentime before taking centre stage in Infinity War.
Asked about playing with the Multiverse Saga's connectivity, Anthony shared, "Look, what you’re describing is like one of the most valuable aspects of the experience for us as fans and as storytellers. So, we lean into that in a strong way and we really feel like [the connective throughline is] one of the most unique things the MCU can do that other forms of cinematic storytelling can’t do."
"Part of the reason why we became reactivated - like Joe was describing in terms of like falling in love with a story that we felt was powerful and needed to be told—is exactly what you’re describing is that there is a narrative through everything."
As for what they hope to achieve with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, he teased, "Even that portion of the narrative that has been unfolding since the end of 'Endgame.' We’re hopeful that we can pick up the story in a way that kind of honors what’s happened between now and then, but also moves it forward."
It's clear the Russos have big plans for these movies, something that was evident from yesterday's concept art leak for Avengers: Doomsday. You can learn more about that by clicking here.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released in May 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive in May 2027.