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Are the Russo Brothers the perfect fit for Avengers: Secret Wars? The director duo reveals why they made their return for the MCU’s biggest project.
One of the simultaneously most and least shocking pieces of news to come out of the MCU in the past year was the reveal that the Russo Brothers (and their frequent writing collaborator Stephen McFeely) were making their return to the franchise with Avengers: Secret Wars. It was a project they always said they wanted to adapt for the silver screen, yet it didn’t seem certain they would come back until recently.
That’s likely because even the Russo Brothers themselves didn’t know they would return to direct Avengers: Secret Wars. The duo reflected on their decision to helm the project in a recent interview with Empire magazine. According to the siblings, they saw Avengers: Endgame as the true end to their time with the franchise, and they had no plans to take on any other projects in the universe following their involvement in the blockbuster.
“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 [Feige] 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.”
Why The Russo Brothers Returned To The MCU
Yet it seems, like all creatives, all it took was a little push to get their juices flowing again. The Russo Brothers admit that they had some ideas about what their return to the MCU would look like if they ever took on another project. However, it was Joe Russo reaching out to Stephen McFeely with an idea for Avengers: Secret Wars that truly ignited their passion to reunite with the franchise that made them a household name.
“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.’ 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, ‘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.’”
Of course, even for a duo like the Russo Brothers, it’ll be hard for Avengers: Secret Wars to recapture the magic of one of the biggest films of all time. The MCU has been on a losing streak and, with only a few months left to go until rubber hits the road on production, it’s likely all hands on deck to make sure the multiverse saga ends with a bang.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to hit theaters in May 2026. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!
