Joe Russo Makes His Most Insane Claim About ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Yet

Yesterday, I threw on the House on Haunted Hill remake from 1999, and I cannot think of a horror movie more worthy of that year. There was a slow, dark cover of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These), some slick visuals undone by bad CGI, and a cast of actors either about to pop in a big way or had already made some headway. One such actor was Famke Janssen. My wife walked in the room, saw her, and said, “Oh, she was in stuff for a while.” To be fair, she never stopped working, but my wife mainly knew her from what would turn her into a household name: the X-Men franchise.

Janssen played Jean Grey in four X-Men movies, and she did a pretty great job in them. Yes, she faces the cliched fate of being possessed for the majority of her arguably most important outing, where she turns into the Dark Phoenix, but she did her best. While the character was eventually recast, that iteration was pretty much scrapped when Kevin Feige realized fans would pay butt tons of money to see Hugh Jackman in a yellow outfit. So, Famke Janssen, like many of her X-Men co-stars, is returning.

The actor was one of the many cast members revealed for Avengers: Doomsday. Joining her from her X-Men days are Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, and Alan Cumming, and hopefully a few surprises (Halle Berry better show up, or I swear to Zod). What is old will be dusted off to give a proper sendoff and milk some more money along the way. So, to read that Joe Russo claimed the new film would not lean on anything from the past sounds… insane.

The director and his brother, Anthony, were at SXSW and, of course, gave a long, in-depth talk about The Electric State and how it has been canonized as one of history’s most important films. Kidding! They got into some Avengers talk, babyyyyy. Joe explained that their passion for the franchise was reignited thanks to a new idea from writer Stephen McFeely, and not the massive critical and cultural success of 2023’s The Electric State. Kidding again! It came out in 2025! Last year! You remember, don’t you?!!?

Russo explained that the new film puts them at “Phase Zero.” “That serial shifting and changing and surprising you and then reinventing itself and then shifting and changing and then surprising you — that’s exciting and I think you’re going to see some shifting and changing [with Doomsday],” he told the crowd. “So, get ready for it. Look, we were with Rob [Downey Jr.] earlier today. We were both talking about this concept that we are back to phase zero. This is starting over from scratch. We want to make sure everybody feels like this isn’t leaning on anything from the past.” My brother, what?!

Look, I don’t expect the film to begin with Cyclops saying, “Remember when Logan went back in time? Well, these other heroes went back in time in one of their movies, too, remember?” Okay, actually, there’s a non-zero chance both of those plot points are involved here. But I believe that this could be a movie that is just enjoyed on its own. However, the mere fact that the movie will be bringing back stars from films that were made decades ago shows there has to be at least some knowledge of the past.

Sure, maybe it won’t “lean” on it, but it has to be integral; otherwise, what are we even doing here? Also, not for nothing, this is shaping up to be a sequel to two long-running franchises. I want the fact that I’ve been watching all these years to pay off! Give me the callbacks and easter eggs! If you’re going to pander to me, f***ing do it. Don’t pretend you aren’t. I’d rather hear you complain about movie theaters some more.

Ah, I’m hearing he did that as well.