Directors Joe and Anthony Russo return to Marvel Studios for Avengers: Doomsday, opening in theaters on December 18. Managing an unprecedented ensemble cast that spans multiple universes, the filmmakers are tackling the studio’s massive scope while wrapping up production on its 2027 follow-up, Avengers: Secret Wars.
From Arrested Development to Marvel Epics
Before they were the most-trusted hands behind Marvel’s largest epics, Joe and Anthony Russo presided over a slightly less potent assemblage of talent: the Bluth family of Arrested Development.
Beginning with Arrested Development
(14 episodes directed) and “Community” (34 episodes), the Russo brothers established an especially keen sense for the rhythms and intersections of ensemble casts.
For whatever reason, Joe and I have always really been drawn to ensemble storytelling,
Anthony says. Maybe it speaks to the fact that we work as a team.
We grew up in a very large Italian family full of colorful personalities,” suggests Joe, citing their Ohio upbringing. “It was complex family dynamics. We all grew up on the same street; people lived in different houses. We spent dinners together on Sundays.
We were always interacting with a large amount of personality and interpersonal dynamics. I think that’s how we see the world and see stories.
That inclination has served the Russos well in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, particularly in the sprawling superhero films Avengers: Infinity War
(2018) and Avengers: Endgame
(2019).
Juggling the Largest Ensemble in Marvel History
But even for the Russos, Avengers: Doomsday
(in theaters Dec. 18) is a unique juggling act. It brings together (deep breath) the Avengers, the Wakandans, the New Avengers (from Earth-616), the Fantastic Four (from Earth-828) and the original X-Men.
The MCU is this massive experiment in how vast, how much scope can an ensemble really have?
Anthony says. If we have a taste and talent for ensemble storytelling, we’re certainly pushing ourselves further than we ever have before.
Joe and Anthony Russo spoke in a recent exclusive interview — or rather interviews, because the brothers spoke separately while knee-deep in work on “Doomsday” and its 2027 follow-up, Avengers: Secret Wars.
They were finishing work on “Doomsday” — scoring, editing — while, in their words, “soft prepping” production on “Secret Wars.”
When you’re doing one of these movies it’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done,
Joe says. When you’re doing two of them, it’s almost inconceivable. But it’s the second time around we’re doing two back to back.
Reasserting Dominance After a Rocky Stretch
When the Russo brothers were last at the helm in the MCU, “Endgame” marked the apex of Marvel as a cultural force. Conceived as the culmination of a decade of movies, “Endgame” became the second highest-grossing film of all time, with $2.8 billion in ticket sales. The Walt Disney Co. will bring it back to theaters as Avengers Endgame: Encore
on Sept. 25.
Since “Endgame,” the MCU has undergone plenty of expansion and experimentation. But Phases four, five and six of the MCU have also been notably rockier than the first three phases. Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, has acknowledged that oversaturation played a role in the downturn.
For the first time, Marvel wasn’t immune to the ups and downs that characterize the rest of the movie world. “The Marvels” in 2023 tapped out with just $206 million in ticket sales. Captain America: Brave New World
in 2025 landed the worst CinemaScore, a “B-,” for a Marvel movie.
The Return of Robert Downey Jr. and High Expectations
“Doomsday” aims to reinvigorate the MCU. It features not just the return of the Avengers and the Russos, but also Robert Downey Jr. The former “Iron Man” star plays the villain Doctor Doom. Downey has said he wouldn’t have come back if the Russos didn’t, too.
So there is a get-the-band-back-together quality to “Doomsday,” a movie expected to be among the highest-grossing ever. Do the Russos feel that the film will, after some MCU stumbles, restore order in the Marvel universe?
It’s a great question. It’s part of the unique challenge,
says Anthony. “The thing that Joe and I have always appreciated about our collaboration with Marvel is: Our job isn’t to answer for the entirety of the MCU. We intersect it in a very specific way. It’s that intersection which is where we can make sense of things.”
Worth a look