Kevin Feige Says the Russo Bros. Will Not Direct AVENGERS: SECRET WARS for Marvel Studios
Marvel Studios had a big day at Comic-Con this weekend when they shared a ton of trailers and footage from several of their upcoming shows. They also announced their epic plans over the course of The Multiverse Saga. Kevin Feige revealed the saga would come to a close at the end of Phase 6 with two Avengers films, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
When those films were announced, fans immediately wondered if Joe and Anthony Russo would return to Marvel to direct them. Over the years they have said several times that they would return to direct Secret Wars if Marvel ever did it. Well, Marvel’s doing it, but Feige has said that the Russo Bros. are not involved with it. Here’s his quote:
"[They are] not connected to it. They have been very direct about that. We love them. They love us. We want to find something to do together, just not this."
I can’t say I’m surprised by this. The Russo Bros. have got a ton of stuff going on and at this point in their career, they don’t really need Marvel. But, Marvel certainly needs them. They’ve made some of the best Marvel films in the franchise! That high level of filmmaking and storytelling is definitely needed in these films. But, I get they aren’t ready to come back. Who knows, though, they might be involved with another unannounced movie in Phase 6.
When previously talking about Secret Wars, Joe Russo said: "You know, I read that when I was 10 or 11, and it was the scale of getting all of the heroes together. It was one of the first major books to do that – that was really event-storytelling to me at its finest. And what happens when you put all of those personalities together. I also like the idea of villains having to team up with heroes. Anth and I like complicated relationships between heroes and villains, we like villains who believe they're heroes in their own stories, so it's all sort of built into this notion of Secret Wars . To execute something on the scale of Infinity War was directly related to the dream of Secret Wars, which is even larger in scale."
He also previously said: "We're in a unique position in our career where we can pick and choose what it is we want to do. Film is a business and when you make people money, you can use the cachet and the brand value that you get out of that to make more personal projects.
Secret Wars was Marvel’s first big crossover event series, and it made its debut in 1984. The title was used again for a series in 2015.
The Secret Wars story centered on Marvel’s greatest heroes and villains being transported to Battleworld thanks to a powerful being known as the Beyonder. It’s on Battleworld where the heroes and villains could decide once and for all whether good or evil was the greater force.
The most recent Secret Wars comic saw a new Battleworld that was created out of remnants of several alternate reality timelines in the Marvel Comics multiverse. This seems like it might be the best route for the MCU with the event of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness breaking open the multiverse, which has been confirmed.
However Marvel decides to tell this story, there’s no doubt it’s going to be extremely epic.