Bold Plan Behind “Avengers: Doomsday” Brought Marvel’s Best Directors Back to the Stage
Marvel Studios has continued to keep significant details about “Avengers: Doomsday” close at hand, only revealing that the crossover is anticipated to have far-reaching consequences that will shape the future of the cinematic universe even more than Endgame did.
The idea that “Avengers: Doomsday” will change the landscape of the MCU going forward has been one of the more prevalent theories among fans of the franchise over the last few years.
Yet, it looks like those rumors have finally been confirmed by a reputable source within the MCU: one of the directors behind the upcoming movie, Joe Russo.
How “Avengers: Doomsday” Brought the Russos Back to the MCU
“Returning” has been the keyword driving forward excitement for the next installment in the Avengers franchise.
Beginning with the news of Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU to play the iconic villain Doctor Doom, various teaser trailers revealed that the film features the return of several Marvel icons such as Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), and several members of the Fox X-Men films, such as Cyclops (James Marsden) and Magneto (Ian McKellen), among many others.
The directors behind the upcoming movie, Anthony and Joe Russo, are no exception.
Noted as the longest credited directors at Marvel Studios with five MCU films under their resume and the next one to be their second-longest film yet, the pair were initially hesitant to return after completing the emotional story arc carried out within “Endgame”. They shared their thoughts concerning their return to the MCU in an interview with Soundsphere.
“We were telling the truth when we made Endgame and we were like, ‘oh yeah, this is our Endgame’…We felt like we had gone through a real completion in storytelling in terms of where we were able to bring the characters, specifically Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, et cetera. Thanos himself in that arc. We did really feel like our job with those two Avengers movies was to sort of provide a climax to what the MCU had been up to that point, even beyond the work that we had done. So, there was a sense that we had that there’s no narrative past this. That was our understanding.”
As it turns out, the Russo brothers were far from done.
“Oddly enough as we’re very close with Marvel…We’re very close friends with them and we talk a lot about a lot of creative ideas that we don’t end up working on but eventually we just came to an idea and it was Steve McFeely, the writer who co-wrote all the Marvel work that we did, he came up with this creative idea that sort of reignited, and I can’t talk about that creative idea because it’s the basis for Doomsday, but that all of a sudden broke the skies open for us. We saw all new kinds of possibilities within the MCU with that idea.”
While the exact details behind the idea that reignited their passion for working with the MCU remain a mystery, fans won’t have to wait much longer to get an answer.
“Doomsday” Will Reset the MCU
Teaser trailer for “Avengers: Doomsday” Courtesy of Marvel Studios
During the same interview with Soundsphere, Joe Russo teased that “Avengers: Doomsday” and the subsequent film “Secret Wars” will bring the franchise to “Phase Zero”, noting it to be a fresh start to the MCU as opposed to being a culmination of the stories from the last six years of films.
“So get ready for it. We were with Robert earlier and we’re both talking about this concept that we are back to Phase Zero. This is starting over from scratch. We want to make sure everybody feels like we’re not leaning on anything from the past. This is going to be a, you’ll see when you see the movie, a complete new direction.”
With more and more rumors popping up about highly anticipated future projects, like the X-Men becoming the next focal point in the MCU, it makes sense that Marvel Studios is focusing on an epic soft reboot.
“Avengers: Doomsday” is widely expected to launch the MCU’s next major storyline, granting Marvel Studios the perfect tool to complete their desired soft reboot.
It is no secret that many fans feel the MCU no longer has the same magic it once had, with its interconnected movies and anticipated crossovers that once drove traffic to theaters during the decade-long run of Phases 1-3. “Doomsday” looks to correct the course of the Multiverse Sage in the MCU, though one of the biggest crossover events, even by their previous standards, set in “Endgame”.
“Avengers: Doomsday” is set to hit the theaters on December 18th 2026.
