“You could not live with your own failure. And where did that bring you? Back to me,” a line spoken by Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, is about to take on new meaning for Joe and Anthony Russo. As revealed by The Hollywood Reporter, the Russo Brothers have emerged—as if through Endgame-esque portals—as potential directors for the fifth and sixth Avengers installments, which would bring them back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after shepherding the Infinity Saga to its conclusion back in 2019.
Much like the MCU, the Russos have been in a bit of a wilderness period post-Endgame. The two leveraged veritable blank checks to get streaming projects Cherry and The Gray Man off the ground, both of which were released to tepid critical reception. Additionally, the two helmed the (quite pricey!) Prime Video series Citadel, which was developed and created with a franchise-like model in mind. Their next film, The Electric State, will hit Netflix this year, and counts Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Stanley Tucci, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito, Anthony Mackie and Billy Bob Thornton along its ensemble.
Meanwhile, the MCU is dangerously close to hitting its full flop era. The lukewarm reception of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania and The Marvels, alongside the subsequent Jonathan Majors debacle, caused Marvel to do a creative reshuffle last fall. It was announced in November that Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton, who was once attached to direct Kang Dynasty from a script by Quantumania writer Jeff Loveless, had left the project, as had Loveless. With Marvel and Majors having also parted ways, Kang Dynasty “will get a new name and new focus,” per THR’s reporting.
The sixth film, Avengers: Secret Wars, is set to adapt the 2015 crossover comic book event of the same name from writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Esad Ribić. Secret Wars is poised to cap off the MCU’s “Multiversal Saga” and will likely bring together alternate versions of Marvel heroes together for an even bigger crossover — i.e., there’s the potential to see Ben Affleck’s Daredevil cross paths with Charlie Cox’s version of the character. As of November 2023, Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness scribe Michael Waldron was on deck to write both Secret Wars and the film formally known as Kang Dynasty, although some outlets reported this week that Waldron has also stepped aside.
According to the new report, multiple names were in consideration for the gig, including Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy. Instead, Marvel is set to stage a return that benefits both parties. The MCU needs a trusted, steady set of hands who know what it’s like to helm projects of this scope and scale since both Avengers 5 and 6 need to be creative and commercial hits in order to recapture the glory days of the MCU past. It’s the safest of choices — and one that’s ultimately not surprising given the state of Marvel’s affairs over the last few years.
The reporting comes just about a week and a half before Marvel will take the stage at San Diego Comic-Con for the first time since 2022, where the studio is likely to officially confirm the pair’s involvement to the faithful fans in attendance. But booking a director—or in this case, directors—is only the first step. What’s the latest with Avengers 5 now that the story will move away from Kang entirely? Will the directors bring back their stalwart collaborators Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely to do a pass on the scripts? There are a lot of Multiversal shenanigans to set up between now and Avengers: Secret Wars to make that movie land half as effectively as Endgame did. For now, it seems that Marvel has their men for the job—but the road from here to the Multiverse is just getting started.
