Credit: Marvel StudiosThe Russo brothers have confirmed that big changes are afoot with Avengers: Doomsday.
Plot details remain tightly guarded, but Doomsday will bring together the Avengers, New Avengers, Wakandans, Fantastic Four, and Fox-era X-Men against Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.). The multiversal crossover is expected to pull together years of dangling storylines before setting the stage for Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).
Expectations are understandably enormous for Marvel’s first Avengers movie since Endgame, but some fans remain wary of its production. Filming began before the script was finished, with Wyatt Russell (John Walker/U.S. Agent) saying the story had “changed about a thousand times.”
Now, less than four months before release, Doomsday has only just wrapped up reshoots and additional filming that have apparently inserted more cameos into the film. These are rumored to include Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch and Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton/Hawkeye.
With so many questions about the project, the Russo brothers are sharing more information about what fans can expect from the project.
Russo Brothers Share ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Update
In a recent chat with AP News, Joe and Anthony Russo – returning for their first Marvel project since Avengers: Endgame (2019) – opened up about their approach to the project.
Anthony Russo described Doomsday as a “back to zero” moment for Marvel, with the directors also framing the film as “starting from scratch” and “a profound shift” for the MCU. Despite its enormous cast and decades of existing continuity, the Russos seemingly want the movie to feel like a genuine new beginning.
That mentality was apparently crucial to getting them back behind the camera. Anthony said the pair were drawn back by a “foundational narrative concept” suggested by co-writer Stephen McFeely, rather than simply returning to recreate the success of Infinity War and Endgame.
“We never want to coast on the capital that already exists,” Anthony explained. “We want the greatest value of the film to reside in the new thing it’s bringing to the table.”
Of course, Doomsday has already undergone its fair share of reinvention. The movie started life as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. After Kang the Conqueror actor Jonathan Majors was fired from Marvel in the wake of his domestic violence trial verdict, it was considerably reworked around Doctor Doom, with the revamped production ultimately entering filming without a finished script.
For the Russos, however, that seemingly isn’t cause for concern. Joe described the screenplay as a “living organism,” explaining that their filmmaking process relies heavily on improvisation.
“We’re improvisation-based, rehearsal-based directors,” he said. “We like to see what the actors bring to the characters, and sometimes you don’t get the actors until a few days or few weeks before you shoot them. And a lot of the time, that’s when the magic happens.”
Whether that flexible approach pays off after such a turbulent production will become clear when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18.
Are you excited for Avengers: Doomsday?
