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The Russo Brothers Just Couldn't Resist a Good Avengers Story, You Guys

By Mike Redmond | News | January 14, 2025 |

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Header Image Source: Getty

Back in July 2024, Marvel stormed into Comic-Con and attempted to pull itself out of a nosedive with the Hail Mary move of bringing back Robert Downey Jr. and the Russo Brothers. However, in a twist, RDJ would not be returning as Tony Stark, but instead, he’d take on the role of Doctor Doom. The character has long been on MCU fans’ wish list, and when Jonathan Majors’ Kang was taken off the table, it was the only play to staunch the bleeding as the franchise found itself without a big bad.

Obviously, the main motivation behind the Russo Brothers’ return for both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars is an obscene amount of money. Sure, they’ve got dump trucks of cash from their streaming deals, but like most rich people, they would like more dump trucks, please.

That said, I will give the Russos the benefit of the doubt that they couldn’t resist the story potential because this world is still fun as sh*t despite the multiverse angle being run into the ground. (See: Agatha All Along.) The Russos have delivered some of the best MCU experiences to date, and they’re bringing the writer who helped them deliver on those. Although, he wasn’t entirely on board at first.

Via Empire:

“There were ideas that we were trying to wrap our heads around that preceded this one, and we just never found the story,” Joe Russo admits. But it all gelled when [Stephen] McFeely hit on how the Secret Wars comic arc might work in MCU form. “I remember calling Steve and said, ‘Hey, crazy idea. What do you think if we all go back and do Secret Wars?’” Joe Russo says. “You were like, ‘F*ck 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, the major concern is that Infinity War and Endgame had a crazy solid foundation when they landed, and right now, the MCU landscape is a goddamn mess. What narrative is Doomsday and Secret Wars even wrapping up? In theory, that would be the incursion teased at the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and kinda shown in The Marvels, but who the hell is following any of that? A third Doctor Strange movie might clear all of this up, but based on the aggressive release schedule for Doomsday (May 1, 2026), that ain’t happening. (EDIT: Because I’ve been hearing about Fantastic Four for a thousand years, I completely forgot that movie is dropping this summer, and it will probably do some heavy lifting here. H/T to QS in the comments.)

Fortunately, the good news is that Marvel can rely on the aforementioned foundation built during The Infinity Saga and use a nostalgia play to wipe the board clean. That’s what Secret Wars did in the comics, and I’d be shocked if that weren’t the play here. Because, let’s be real, the board has to be reset. The Disney+ shows made the franchise a chore to follow, and The Multiverse Saga got scattered to the wind thanks to COVID, Jonathan Majors, and the strikes. As much as it heralded the arrival of Marvel Jesus, I’d argue that Deadpool & Wolverine made the multiverse even more convoluted thanks to its nonsensical plot. Although, it did add to the vibes that audiences can stop caring about any of these shenanigans.

So, how do you fix all of this? Drop RDJ as Doctor Doom into the mix with a movie that blatantly says, “Hey, forget everything else. All that matters is this crazy sh*t, and we’ll start fresh after that. We’ll even go easy on the homework!” That certainly couldn’t hurt.

Will it work? I have no clue, but it’s long past time for the MCU to smack into a time-honored comics tradition: a good ol’ fashioned line-wide reboot.