Joe and Anthony Russo are in early discussions to return to Marvel Studios, set to direct not one, but the next two Avengers films.
This development concludes a lengthy and intense search by Marvel for directors to helm the fifth and sixth installments of the franchise. Notably, Shawn Levy, known for directing Deadpool and Wolverine, was also considered for the role but discussions have now shifted toward the Russo brothers.
The Russo brothers have a storied history with Marvel, transitioning from TV comedies like Arrested Development and Community to blockbuster filmmaking with Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 2014. They have directed four major Marvel films: Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Collectively, their Marvel projects have grossed an impressive $6.681 billion, with Endgame ranking as the second-highest-grossing film of all time, earning $2.79 billion globally.
Since their Marvel tenure, the Russo brothers have expanded their influence through their production company, AGBO, backing critically acclaimed projects such as Everything Everywhere All at Once and high-budget series like Amazon’s Citadel and Netflix’s Extraction. Despite their box office success, their recent directorial efforts, including the crime drama Cherry (2021) and action film The Gray Man (2022), have not matched the critical acclaim of their Marvel work. They are also set to release the sci-fi adventure The Electric State on Netflix.
The fifth Avengers film, previously titled Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, was set to feature Jonathan Majors as the time-traveling villain Kang. However, Marvel has severed ties with Majors following his conviction for assault and harassment in December. Director Destin Daniel Cretton, who was initially attached to the project, departed shortly before Majors’ conviction, leading to anticipated changes in the film’s title and focus.
The sixth Avengers installment, Secret Wars, is a storyline the Russo brothers have expressed a strong interest in adapting. This narrative originates from a pair of 1980s comic book series featuring the powerful antagonist known as the Beyonder, who orchestrates battles between Marvel heroes and villains on a planet called Battleworld. A 2015 revival of this storyline served as a climax to Jonathan Hickman’s multiverse saga, which has already been referenced in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). In Hickman’s version of Secret Wars, the multiverse is destroyed, leaving remnants on a single planet ruled by the villain Doctor Doom.
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