Anthony and Joe Russo, known as the Russo Brothers, have given some insight as to why they’ve decided to return to the MCU.
The Russo Brothers made their first MCU movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, in 2014. They then went on to direct 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
Since then, the Russo Brothers have moved away from Marvel Studios, as they directed 2022’s Cherry for Apple TV+ and 2022’s The Gray Man for Netflix. Their newest film, The Electric State, is scheduled to be released on Netflix in March 2025.
It was announced last year, however, that the Russo Brothers are returning to direct 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday and 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars.
What did the Russo Brothers say about returning to the MCU?
Speaking with Empire Magazine, the Russos explained why they decided to come back to Marvel.
“Endgame was the end, and it took a little time for us to begin to think about it as something other than an end,” Anthony said. “…We’re very close with Kevin and Lou [D’Esposito] and the entire Marvel team and 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.’”
Joe added, “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 [writer Stephen McFeely] and said, ‘Hey, crazy idea. What do you think if we all go back and do Secret Wars? [Stephen] was like, ‘F—k 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.’”
Avengers: Doomsday will be released on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027.
