Although Joe and Anthony Russo are responsible for some of Marvel‘s biggest hits, they initially turned down the offer to reunite with the studio to direct Robert Downey Jr. in “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Secret Wars.”
While speaking to Omelete, Joe Russo said it was originally Marvel CEO Kevin Feige’s idea to reinsert Downey into the MCU as Doctor Doom after the Oscar winner was the franchise’s defacto frontman playing Tony Stark/Iron Man for over a decade.
“That was Kevin [Feige],” Joe Russo said. “Interestingly enough about that, that conversation was had a while ago.”
After Feige pitched them the idea, it was Downey who came in to close the deal with the Russo Brothers. However, Joe Russo said that even Iron Man could not initially make them sign on without the directing duo first having a story in mind for the two films.
“Then Robert tried to talk us into doing [‘Doomsday’ and ‘Secret Wars’] and we said ‘no,’” Joe Russo said. “We just didn’t have a story. We didn’t have a way in. We were resistant for a while.”
It wasn’t until close collaborator and screenwriter Stephen McFeely pitched his own story ideas for the “Avengers” followups that the Russo Brothers felt confident they could step back into the MCU.
“One day, Stephen McFeely, one of our chief collaborators, said, ‘I have an idea,’” Joe Russo added. “We went, ‘That’s the story!’ That story has to be told; it’s a really powerful story!”
Joe and Anthony Russo have previously helmed some of the most beloved Marvel films in the studio’s history. Together, they directed “Avengers: Endgame,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Captain America: Civil War.”
