The Multiverse Saga hasn't been the unmitigated disaster some would have you believe, but it does feel like enlisting the Russo Brothers for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars was part of Marvel Studios' attempt to course correct.
Joe and Anthony were seemingly done with the MCU after Avengers: Endgame. While the duo was set to focus on their AGBO production label, Cherry and The Gray Man struggled to strike a chord with movie fans - The Electric State doesn't look...great - so a Marvel Studios return might be what's best for them as well.
Talking to Empire Online, Anthony said, "Endgame was the end, and it took a little time for us to begin to think about it as something other than an end. We’re very close with Kevin and Lou [D’Esposito, Marvel Studios’ Co-President] and the entire Marvel team and we’ve had conversations through the years. We’ve talked about a lot of ideas."
It was reportedly then that inspiration for Secret Wars struck. "Really what happened was, we ended up stumbling upon an idea that activated all of us," he teased. "You couldn’t see it coming until it came, and once it came it was like, 'Well, that’s a story we need to tell.'"
Christopher Markus is said to be "keeping projects running" at AGBO, but Stephen McFeely will reunite with the Russos as the sole writer on Doomsday and Secret Wars.
Joe recalled, "There were ideas that we were trying to wrap our heads around that preceded this one, and we just never found the story. I remember calling Steve and said, 'Hey, crazy idea. What do you think if we all go back and do Secret Wars?' You were like, 'F*** no. Absolutely not."
"And then you hung up. And the next morning at 7.30 you called and were like, 'Alright, I have an idea,'" the filmmaker concluded, revealing the origin story of how the trio's MCU return came to be.
Following successful collaborations on the Captain America and Avengers franchises, it does feel like Marvel Studios has put these movies in safe hands. Many fans would prefer a new director put a fresh spin on Earth's the Multiverse's Mightiest Heroes but Disney and Marvel Studios need these movies to be critical and commercial hits.
The Russos are huge fans of the original Secret Wars comic book and while Robert Downey Jr.'s MCU return as Doctor Doom has raised eyebrows, it sounds like they've dreamed up an idea for this upcoming adaptation which really excites them. Hopefully, it ends the Multiverse Saga on a high note.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released in May 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive in May 2027.