It looked like Joe and Anthony Russo were passing the torch for Marvel over to a new generation of filmmakers after Avengers: Endgame, but they’re back (along with some other Marvel vets) for the next two Avengers movies.
While some fans think that their return was merely Marvel cashing in on nostalgia—which they probably still are—the Russos have said that they thought that they had a story that just ‘activated’ them creatively. In a recent talk with Empire, Anthony Russo explained:
“We’ve had conversations through the years. We’ve talked about a lot of ideas… Really what happened was, we ended up stumbling upon an idea that activated all of us… 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.’”
The Russos are also bringing back their writing partner Steven McFeely, and while he wasn’t onboard initially, McFeely was said to have come back with a great idea for Secret Wars. Joe Russo says, “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, ‘Fuck 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.’”
So far, it does seem like the main idea for the Russos is going to be the closer with Secret Wars; but fans are currently looking for the immediate Avengers film coming in 2026 which is Doomsday. It’s still unclear how the Russos plan to deal with Robert Downey Jr. playing Doctor Doom, but it’s safe to say that a lot of fans are definitely skeptical and are thinking that Marvel could be throwing away creativity for a chance at nostalgia-baiting.
Either way, it does seem to make a lot of money at the box office for Disney, and Deadpool and Wolverine managed to gross a billion. I’m just hoping there’s still some room in there for some actual creativity because I’m not someone who just wants to go in the theater and clap when someone familiar shows up onscreen.
Avengers: Secret Wars is expected to come out May 7, 2027.
