Don’t go thinking “Avengers 4” is anywhere near done.
The highly anticipated film was originally called “Avengers: Infinity War – Part 2.” The two movies were filmed back-to-back, with about a month break after “Avengers 3” before “Avengers 4” officially started filming in August 2017.
Over a year later, the filmmakers are working on “Avengers 4” additional photography (reshoots) and starting post-production, which will go right down to the wire.
Because this film is massive in every way.
Marvel Studios
“Avengers 4” is scheduled for release in the U.S. on May 3, 2019, but it will arrive in some parts of the world in late April.
Anthony Russo: “We’ve worked on the edit all summer and we’re excited to finally get these missing pieces in the film and then we expect to be in post through the fall and winter. We hope to be done by March. It was so gratifying that in a movie with this scope and scale and that wide of an audience, that we were able to end with a gut punch and yet the audience stayed with us and found value and kept coming back…”
Joe Russo: “It was probably when a 10-year old boy at a Q&A was crying as he asked us why we killed Spider-Man.”
What was the best reaction?
Joe Russo: “The best reaction was probably that 10-year old kid crying and asking us why we killed Spider-Man. From the time we came to Marvel, our goal was to surprise the audience and not give them the same thing but rather to challenge them. That was our view on Captain America: Winter Soldier, and Civil War was also very controversial internally with the powers that be in turning Iron Man into the antagonist and severing the relationship between Cap and Tony Stark. Every Marvel film we’ve created had this controversy, like are we pushing this rabid audience too far? Are we making movies that could perhaps be too emotionally complex for the genre? That the audience has shown up wanting more is a testament to the hard work everybody has put in over those last 10 years of films.”
Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has said the title of “Avengers 4” will be shared later this year, after the “Captain Marvel” teasers start showing up. It has been speculated that we might even get the first teaser for “Avengers 4” in November.
The next two MCU films on the docket are “Captain Marvel” on March 8, and “Avengers 4” on May 3. Then that 10-year-old boy should be happy to hear that Spider-Man will return — somehow — for “Spider-Man: Far From Home” in July.
In the meantime, the Russos did retweet this beauty, so maybe you should too:
Been meaning to take the remaining avengers back to the Shawarma joint. Here is the update with who's left, tho I don't know if Wong is alive 😅 but honestly it's sad how many left us. Now to see how many will return… #avengers4@Russo_Brothers@RobertDowneyJrpic.twitter.com/uzdnuP8VQz
But that’s why Benedict Cumberbatch is a true superhero. Because Tom Holland would’ve shared even MORE spoilers if Doctor Strange weren’t there to shut Spider-Man down at key moments.
“Avengers: Infinity War” directors Anthony and Joe Russo are now promoting the film’s Digital release, and upcoming August 14 Blu-ray release. They were asked about Tom Holland in the film, and then about Tom Holland outside of the film.
ET reporter: “How do you feel that Tom Holland spent the entire press tour spoiling aspects of the movie over and over?”
Joe Russo [laughs]: “What are you gonna do? You know. He’s the nicest guy in the world. So you can never be punitive towards Tom Holland.”
Reporter: “People made supercuts of it, which was my favorite thing.”
Joe Russo: “Of everything he spoiled? Was it like 15 minutes long?”
Reporter: “It was him and Benedict Cumberbatch, and Benedict Cumberbatch just being like [blocking Tom Holland to shut him up.]”
Joe Russo: “By the way, Benedict is a great partner for him on the press tour. Because Benedict is actually very good at dancing around spoilers — and monitoring Tom Holland.”
Does it also mean the Russo Brothers are officially leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe after “Avengers 4“? Or maybe just taking a Ross-and-Rachel break?
At the end of Amazon’s TCA panel over the weekend, it was revealed that Joe and Anthony Russo would be teaming up with Amazon Studios for a mysteries new series.
According to Deadline, in a pre-taped video, the directors called the series “a massive, global TV adventure” and said that they would be “sourcing talent from all around the world.”
Here’s a description of the series, or at least a vague blueprint of the scale of the thing (via Collider):
“Amazon Studios is on a quest to create a radical global storytelling disruption by teaming with the Russo Brothers’ AGBO Studios on a large-scope, multi-layered international event series. As part of the collaboration, the Russo Brothers will have the creative freedom to oversee an ambitious concept meant to captivate the Prime Video audience and redefine the boundaries of storytelling.
While the creative is under wraps, the origin mothership series will function as a fire-starter to ignite the creation of multiple original local language and local production series. All of the local series are meant to enhance the entire entertainment experience and will be available for the viewer to deep dive into an imagined layered world.”
So it will start with one “origin mothership series” that will launch a bunch of “local” spinoffs around the world? We’re sold, even if we’re not quite sure yet what we’re buying.
Here’s a statement from Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke:
“The Russo Brothers have impacted the pop culture barometer of creative excellence with their vision for both ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and ‘Captain America: Civil War.’ They brought a level of scale and execution to those films that has raised the bar for audiences everywhere and we can’t wait for them to do the same for us on this project for our Amazon Prime Customer. We are thrilled to be working with Joe and Anthony Russo and their AGBO Studios as they build this incredible, multifaceted, international franchise.”
We know the Russo Brothers are about to return for “additional photography” for “Avengers 4,” which opens next spring (either early May, or maybe late April). But it sounds like this ambitious series is going to occupy their time after their travels with Marvel Studios. Bittersweet!
Next May, they’ll give us “Avengers 4,” which will reveal its official title later this year.
In a new interview with Deadline, Joe Russo called the movie “pure” in that it was made back-to-back with “Infinity War,” but before that movie came out. So they weren’t influenced at all by the fan response.
Technically, “Avengers 4” isn’t done filming, since Joe confirmed they are going back for “some additional photography” in a month or so. But they have been in post-production on the movie since the release of “Infinity War,” so it’s basically done. And they are very happy with it.
Deadline mostly talked to Joe Russo about the new Syfy series “Deadly Class,” but here’s the brief portion of their talk about “Avengers 4”:
Deadline: “Going from the small screen to the big screen for a sec, and I’m not going to try to get any spoilers out of you, but coming off the critically and financially home run of Avengers: Infinity War, how does the upcoming next Avengers flick feel for you and Anthony now as filmmakers.”
Joe Russo: “You know, we’re very proud of it. I think ultimately Avengers 4 may be our best work for Marvel. I think we’ve grown with every movie that we’ve made there. We’ve grown with the characters. We’ve grown with the cast. As filmmakers we’re very happy and very excited with the movie.
You know, it’s always an agenda of ours to block out the outside noise because it can lead you to make some bad choices with the material. We’ve learned over the years just to listen to ourselves, and it’s great that there’s two of us that we can have conversations with each other. We can really stay insulated and reinforce one another in our belief in the story that we’re telling. I feel like with ‘Avengers 4,’ because it was made before there was any response to ‘Avengers 3,’ it’s really pure in that regard. The storytelling is very pure. It’s without any sort of external noise creeping in….”
Speaking of the response to “Avengers 3,” this past weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel set up grief counseling for fans traumatized by the end of “Infinity War”:
"Fans put on a name tag and enter an air-conditioned room where an actor is there to talk with the group about their best memories from the MCU. You get a donut, watch a deleted scene from the Infinity War Blu-ray and then get a t-shirt on the way out." https://t.co/1yQnzTPReC
No new MCU footage was shown at Comic-Con. We’re on standby for the first “Captain Marvel” teasers, and that’s also when we should learn the “Avengers 4” title.
New question: What happens with the Russos after “Avengers 4”? They have yet to announce their next project for Marvel Studios.
SPOILERS AHEAD FROM ‘INFINITY WAR’ & MAYBE ‘AVENGERS 4’.
There’s a built-in conundrum with “Avengers 3” and “Avenger 4” — which used to be “Infinity War” Part 1 and Part 2. Certain characters, like Peter Parker and Star-Lord and most of the “Guardians of the Galaxy,” are vaporized at the end of the movie.
There’s also meant to be a third “Spider-Man” movie coming as part of Tom Holland’s trilogy.
Plus, dusted heroes Black Panther and Bucky Barnes are just getting started, and we’re expecting a lot more from them in the next phase of the MCU.
Also, original Avengers Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and Chris Hemsworth have been pretty vocal about passing the torch to the new crew after “Avengers 4,” when their contracts are up. Robert Downey Jr. is part of that original bunch, too. It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that they are members of the non-dusted characters.
So with all of that information already out there … the vaporized people come back, right? Obviously? What are the stakes if people who “died” don’t stay dead?
HuffPost asked Joe and Anthony Russo to comment on the criticism that the “deaths” of the dusted characters have no meaning since we know they’ll be back for sequels. Here are their responses:
“Here’s the thing, I think it’s important to remember anything is possible in the MCU,” Anthony said. “Just because there’s a sequel on the books doesn’t mean … people become accustomed to time moving linearly in the MCU. That doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. There’s a lot of very inventive ways of where the story can go from here.”
“There’s four years between ‘Guardians 2’ and ‘Infinity War,’” Joe added. “That’s a long time, and a lot of ‘Guardians’ stories to tell. Again, as Anthony said, don’t expect everything to move forward in a linear fashion in the Marvel universe.”
Um, James Gunn already said “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” will take place after these two “Avengers” movies, adding that “it will help to set up the next 10, 20 years of Marvel movies.”
That doesn’t mean Gamora would return, though, since she wasn’t dusted. She was sacrificed by Thanos. She, Loki, Heimdall, and Vision were killed, not snapped, so they may be dead dead. Then again, we’re willing to take their advice and not assume we really know.
But they are definitely messing with time at this point, and we have to keep that in mind.
We know that “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” coming out this July, takes place before “Infinity War.” “Captain Marvel” takes place long before “Infinity War,” but will probably catch up somehow since “Infinity War” ended with Nick Fury sending a message to Captain Marvel. Her first movie opens two months before “Avengers 4.”
Thanos has the Time Stone at this point, but we’re operating in Doctor Strange’s one timeline where the good guys defeat Thanos. We also know the “Avengers 4” synopsis mentions a “turning point” and “sacrifices,” and fans already suspect they know what that means. Maybe they’re right. We’ll all find out when “Avengers 4” opens May 3, 2019.
When we interviewed the immensely talented filmmaking team of Joe and Anthony Russo, just a few days before their monolithic superhero mash-up “Avengers: Infinity War” debuted (to rapturous reviews and astronomical box office), we asked if they could give us something that would only make sense after we saw the movie.
This is what they said:
Joe: How about “blue man?”
Anthony: That’s a good one.
Now, having seen the film twice already (what? We have a rich social life full of interpersonal interactions!), we can safely assume what they were referring to. Spoilers follow, so turn back until you haven’t seen the movie yet.
Still there?
Okay, cool.
There’s a moment when the Guardians of the Galaxy (specifically Chris Pratt‘s Star Lord, Zoe Saldana‘s Gamora, Dave Bautista‘s Drax and Pom Klementieff’s Mantis –- Rocket and Groot have already joined up with Thor at this point) land on Knowhere, the giant, floating head of a space god known as a celestial. (Bonus trivia: Kurt Russell is revealed to be a celestial in “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2.”) They’re sneaking into the workspace of the Collector (Benicio del Toro), but are intercepted by Thanos (Josh Brolin). As they make their way through the maze of Collector’s display cases, there is a familiar figure — a blue man, if you will.
But who is this Smurf-colored being?
It’s none other than Tobias Fünke, the character played by Arrested Development.”
It’s unclear if that was actually David Cross in the plastic box (Disney did not respond to our request for comment in time for publish), but that’s 100% the character — the characteristic denim shorts (he’s a never-nude, remember), the bushy mustache, the bald head, and the Crayola-colored blue-skin (from some time he spent with the Blue Man Group).
But what’s the connection between “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Arrested Development?” It’s actually the Russos, who directed the pilot for the highly influential series and who, between the two of them, helmed more than a dozen additional episodes. So, clearly, the show helped them develop as filmmakers and remains a standard-bearer for television comedy.
The experience on “Arrested Development” also helped them in the whole balancing-multiple-storylines thing, which would come in handy when tackling something as sprawling and character-stuffed as “Avengers: Infinity War.”
When Joe and Anthony Russo were first tasked to direct “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” they didn’t seem like the obvious choice.
The oddball filmmakers, who had become a favorite of Steven Soderbergh, were mostly known for their work on the small screen, crafting episodes of “Arrested Development,” “Happy Endings,” and “Community.” (Their paintball episode of “Community” was probably the closest they’d come to action filmmaking.) But any fears were quelled within the first few moments of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier;” these guys got it.
Since the success, both critically and commercially, of “The Winter Soldier,” the Russo Brothers have stayed in the Marvel fray, doing the follow-up “Captain America: Civil War” (an even bigger hit with critics and audiences) and signing up for the two-part “Avengers” finale, which begins this week with “Avengers: Infinity War” and continues with Summer 2019’s as-yet-untitled fourth film. These movies are huge, unprecedented undertakings, especially for directors that, five years ago, were still shooting sitcoms.
Not that the pressure gets to them. The brothers were remarkably laid back when we spoke to them in Beverly Hills ahead of the opening of “Infinity War” (and before we’d seen it). They were forthcoming and gregarious, excited for the world to finally see what they’ve spent so long cooking up. We talked about Steven Soderbergh‘s involvement in their initial employment with Marvel, why they shot completely in IMAX, and how they can afford to improvise on the biggest movie ever.MOVIEFONE: Let’s take it back to the beginning, and Steven Soderbergh’s involvement in getting you hired for “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” He was talking to Marvel Studios about something and brought you guys up, right?
Anthony Russo: He wasn’t talking to Marvel about something, but he discovered us and mentored us. When it became apparent that this was such a departure from our previous movies, we asked him to put a call into Marvel on our behalf. I think he ended up speaking to Kevin [Feige], Scarlett [Johansson] and Chris [Evans], just to vouch for our legitimacy as filmmakers.
Have you ever tried to lure him to the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
JoeRusso: When we initially talked to him about it, he was like, “Are you sure you want to go make a comic book movie?” He is not a comic book fan. We grew up on comic books. I have 3,000 comic books in my closet still dating back to the ’50s. This is something we’ve been obsessed with since we were children. And the stories that are important to you as a child have resonance throughout your entire life. He doesn’t have that connection. So, I don’t know if he would ever direct a comic book film because he can’t emotionally connect with it.
It might be the only type of movie he hasn’t done.
Anthony: That’s a good point.
Has he ever checked in or looked at edits or anything?
Joe: Occasionally we will exchange emails. After the success of “Civil War,” [an email] just said, “You guys owe me a car.”
Anthony: … Which is true. Although I’m not sure he’s even seen any of the movies.At what point did you guys decide to take on “Infinity War?” And was there any trepidation signing onto such a huge endeavor?
Joe: No, there wasn’t any trepidation because our whole career has been built on challenges and I think we really like challenges. Our first movie was a movie that Soderbergh fell in love with, and it was a nonlinear experimental film. And being from Cleveland, you have a bit of a punk rock attitude because it’s an underdog city, and the river caught on fire, and everybody makes fun of it on late night talk shows. So you have that who-gives-a-f**k attitude. So, as a way to announce ourselves to the business, we made a who-gives-a-f**k movie, a movie that only Soderbergh would have liked. For us, what gets us out of bed everyday is, “What is the challenge of telling this story?” So, if somebody says, “hey, do you want to do something that’s never been done in movies before, and end ten years of serialized storytelling through however many franchises,” you go, “Well, yeah, that sounds like a hell of a challenge.”
And you’ve been scaling up with each movie.
Joe: We’ve been scaling up for decades. Our first film was an ensemble, “Arrested Development” was an ensemble, “Community” was an ensemble, “Happy Endings” was an ensemble. We grew up in a large Italian American family, and we’re fascinated with interpersonal dynamics and relationships and, yes, “Winter Soldier” led to “Civil War,” which was slightly larger than “Winter Soldier.” And “Infinity War” is slightly larger than “Civil War.” So, yes, there’s been a trajectory, but it’s been a decades-long trajectory.
What was the hardest day on set?
Joe: It had to be one of the action sequences. Those are always hard.
Anthony: Yeah, action is complicated. And there’s a layer of tension when you’re doing action because there’s also often dangerous dimensions. Those tend to be very intense days.
Joe: The cast is really game because we like to put them in very physical situations, because we want the audience to feel that and feel that it’s them. Evans executes a lot of his own stunts in the Captain America movies. So, it’s like playing a football game. They wake up the next day, they can’t move their elbow. Why shoot entirely in IMAX? It feels like the visuals have evolved with each movie, too.
Joe: IMAX is the most immersive theater-going experience you can have right now. It’s the biggest screen dimension you have; it wraps your entire field of view. And this is a massive movie, painted on the largest canvas you can paint a movie on — so why not do it on the biggest canvas that’s available to movie audiences right now? We had a great experience shooting the airport sequence in IMAX [from “Captain America: Civil War”]. Again, this movie is the first of its kind because I don’t think there’s a corollary for this movie — where ten years of serialized storytelling has led to this — so why not tell it in the biggest way possible?
Anthony: I was going to mention that we like a very active camera, we like to move the camera a lot. And there was finally a technological advancement where IMAX was able to work with ARRI and develop these new 65 cameras that can hold an IMAX chip in them. So, for the first time, we had smaller cameras where we could shoot IMAX. They’re still a little bigger and a little heavier and not quite as nimble, but they were acceptable for us in terms of achieving what we wanted to on a movement level.
Joe: And, stylistically, the movie is radically different than the “Captain America” films. Those films were brutalist in nature. We were trying to deconstruct the character. We stripped all color out of the films. We wanted to make it as docu and realistic as possible. This is very different. This is cosmic. It’s much more colorful. Big sweeping shots, lots of dollies and cranes, and a more traditional Hollywood execution of a large-scale movie. It requires the ability to shift tone very quickly in a way that the “Captain America” movies were not.You’ve spoken about an exploratory phase of development where you just passed around ideas. What was the hardest thing to lose when it came to finally putting the movie together?
Joe: I don’t know. There were so many ideas on the table. And this script went through way more iterations than any of the other scripts we’d worked on for Marvel. I think because this is such a unique movie that there’s nothing you can look to and go, “It’s just like that.” That template doesn’t exist. There is no template for putting this many characters in a film and having it track. So, we went on a journey of discovery, where we tried things. There were some fun choices we can talk about once the movie comes out, in retrospect, of things we were going to try that we didn’t try.
How far along are you into the next one?
Joe: Zero.
Anthony: We didn’t even completely shoot the film. We shot the vast majority of the film, but we still have some stuff to shoot and we haven’t worked it all out in post. So, the next year is that. Because the urgent thing was we really had to focus on finishing this movie because of the timeline.
Can you talk about bringing back Alan Silvestri to score the film? Since we haven’t seen it, can you talk about whether or not he includes some of the themes that other composers have done?
Joe: We are incorporating themes into the movie. But the most important theme was the “Avengers” theme. I think that’s the theme that has the most emotional capital with audiences. For us, there was no one else who could score this movie. He originated the theme and he’s a god in the film composer business.
Anthony: That was really the motivation for the change. Henry Jackman we love, and he did amazing work with us. But Alan launched “The Avengers,” and it was important for us to be able to transition into a new tonal space. Because we wanted to step away from [what we’d done with] “Captain America.”There have been reports that James Gunn helped write some of the Guardians stuff.
Joe: James contributed some ideas to Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely’s script, but I would say that 80 percent of what’s there is Marcus and McFeely, 15 percent of it is improvised, and five percent is James Gunn.
Can you talk about improvising when you have to get through 100 shots a day with 30 speaking characters?
Joe: Our whole experience from working in comedy is improvisation. So, we have a lot of experience with it. The key with improvisation is making sure people improvise on story. Typically, when you’re working with major movie stars, there’s a reason they are gigantic stars. Chris Pratt, there’s a reason he’s a gigantic movie star and it’s because he’s incredible at improvisation and protecting his character and being additive to the process. Hemsworth is great, Downey will do nothing but improvise, because it keeps it fresh for him. For us, we can only build the film with what we bring into the editing room. If we didn’t shoot it, we don’t have it, we can’t make it. So we’d prefer to cover more than less, and try more than less. Because we’ve found that no matter how confident you are as a director, you can sit there on a set and go, “Yeah, we nailed that scene,” but you can be in the edit bay and say, “We completely f*cked that scene up.” So you want to have options when you get in there.
Anthony: But I would also say — specific to this movie — the other motivation was, when you’re going down the road to improvisation, and this was something that we learned from our TV years, is when an actor lives with a character for years, nobody understands these characters better than these actors. So, part of the way we find the story, is through the actors. Because they know what they would do sometimes better than anybody else.
Can you tell us one thing that will only make sense after the movie comes out?
Fans should expect “Avengers 4” to be longer than “Avengers: Infinity War,” which is currently the longest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Infinity War” is opening this week — big L.A. premiere tonight, careful of spoilers! — and then fans can look forward to “Avengers 4” in May of next year.
Collider sat down with directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who didn’t quite confirm that “Avengers 4” will be titled “Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet” but they smiled and didn’t deny.
The Russos were asked about the run time of “Avengers 4,” and whether it could be a three-hour film or would Disney say that’s too long. The directors said Disney has never given them any notes on run time. “Infinity War” is about 2.5 hours, and the Russos said “Avengers 4” is likely to be longer.
Joe Russo: “I’ll say it could easily be a three-hour film, but I think that we’re very hard on the material. We like it to play at a certain pace. I’m sure that we’ll squeeze it. So I can’t imagine…”
Anthony Russo: “We have a whole year of work left on that movie.”
Joe: “I do think it will be longer than ‘Avengers 3.’”
Anthony: “It’s clearly impossible to say at this point.”
Joe: “You like how we’re like — I’m like ‘It’s gonna be longer,’ he’s like ‘We can’t say!’”
Anthony: “I’m just saying there’s such a long road on this movie left.”
Joe said the rough/assembly cut for “Avengers 4” is their longest yet, but it’s not four hours or anything. Anthony really emphasized that the assembly cut isn’t even complete.
Chris Evans (Captain America/Steve Rogers) is said to be leaving the MCU after “Avengers 4” and in that initial report it said he’d be finished after the planned reshoots this fall. So we already know more material will be added to “Avengers 4” later this year, and that must make it especially tough to gauge a run time.
Watch their full interview for more:“Avengers 4” is meant to have a very different tone to “Avengers 3,” with the screenwriters saying they’re almost like two completely different genres, tonally and structurally.
“Avengers 3” opens this Friday, April 27; “Avengers 4” — whose title will be announced at some point in the next few months — opens May 3, 2019.
The big “Infinity War” premiere is tonight. The Russos shared another message on that…
You shouldn’t avoid social media altogether. We’re curious at the general reaction from critics, who usually post non-spoilery initial reactions right after the premiere. They’ll probably tease what they liked/didn’t like about the movie, compared to previous MCU films.
Immediately after the presentation, Russo — who, with his brother Anthony, are the filmmakers at the helm of the forthcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe mega-crossover that unites the superhero community in a battle against Thanos’s bid to conquer the cosmos — told Moviefone he was feeling energized by the wildly positive response to the footage, especially given that he and Anthony are just about to start work on the follow-up installment.
And he offered a hint at who he suspects will be the breakout superhero comedy duo of “Infinity War.”
Moviefone: The response that you’ve gotten here and at D23, what has it meant to you to see the enthusiasm the “Infinity War” footage has provoked?
Joe Russo: It’s incredible, because oddly, it happened to have fallen, both D23 and Comic-Con, in between the two movies that we’re working on. It’s hard making these films, physically hard. It’s emotionally demanding, it’s psychologically demanding. To see that reaction, right before we’re about to start the second movie, is a great burst of energy to carry us to the next film.
You’ve gotten the opportunity to work with just about everybody in the MCU so far. What was the thrill of experiencing the new people that you got to work with? Did anybody stand out as, like, that was way better than I expected?
Everybody brings incredible energy. Marvel does an incredible job of casting. I joke that the cast is like “The Poseidon Adventure” meets “Towering Inferno.” It’s that big. Everyone who comes in is a movie star. Movie stars are day-playing on this film. They’ll come in and do one day’s worth of work.
So you’re just constantly surprised every day by the quality of talent you have in front of you. I’ll just pick up the call sheet and laugh, because I go, “Oh my God, this person’s coming in for one or two days, and they’re one of my favorite actors.”
These huge Marvel movies are challenging to make in any circumstance, but this is that big culmination movie, the epic that everything’s been building toward. What were the specific challenges of that for you?
It’s trying to pull all the different threads together, all the characters so that you have continuity in narrative, that there’s a flow, that you are paying off everything that’s been set up. So, it’s been a hell of a task.
Thankfully, we have incredible partners in [screenwriters Christopher] Markus and [Stephen] McFeely, who wrote “Winter Soldier” and “Civil War,” and are writing both “Avengers” scripts for us. We have great partners in Marvel. We’ve worked with the same crew now on four movies, so it’s like a family. So we have an incredible amount of support.
The hardest part is tying all the different threads together. It’s kind of unprecedented. I can’t think of a movie that has this many stories that are leading into it. It literally took us a year in a room in front of a computer screen trying to figure it out.
Are there any two characters you can tease that were especially fun to see together for the first time?
Oh boy! I like the dynamic between Thor and Star-Lord. I think it’s going to surprise people. It’s very funny. People saw it today, what Taika [Waititi] did with the tone on “Ragnarok,” bringing that tone and energy from the “Thor” world into the “Guardians” universe, and you get a really combustable chemistry and some pretty funny stuff.
Democrat/Republican. Yankees/Red Sox. Marvel/DC. It’s possible to love both, it’s possible to hate both. But you probably prefer one over the other. Why, though?
The Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe are both in the middle of ambitious franchise plans. DC just gave us “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Suicide Squad” in 2016, and both took a beating from critics, although they were a bit more warmly received by fans. Neither did as well at the box office as Marvel’s recent “Captain America: Civil War” or “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” which both made more than $1 billion around the world.
“Captain America: Civil War” is coming out on Blu-ray and DVD on September 13, and the Independent just spoke to one of the Russo brother directors (Anthony; apparently Joe was at the doctor’s having a physical) about what’s next for the Avengers in “Infinity War” and beyond. They shareda lot more with Moviefone on that subject, but the Independent also asked Russo about DC vs Marvel.
Here’s how that went:
Why do you think DC films ‘Batman v Superman’ and ‘Suicide Squad’ haven’t landed with audiences as successfully as Marvel films seem to?
“It’s a very interesting question. I can’t speak to it directly because I haven’t seen either but all I can say is my brother and I’s tastes align with Marvel in a lot of ways: we both like very entertaining stories and very balanced movies. We like movies that are going to have a great sense of fun and thrill to them while at the same time remain very grounded in relatable human emotions and conflicts that the audiences can get behind and root for and empathise with. It’s the balance between those we strive for. When we first saw the original Iron Man movie, I remember thinking, ‘wow’ because it had that exact balance to it that we aspired to. So the fact we got to become a part of the Marvel family and find our own expression within that is a real joy for my brother and I.”
It’s certainly a classier answer than the “F*ck Marvel” “Suicide Squad” director David Ayer offered, although he quickly apologized. When you’re the one with a higher success rate (at the moment) you can afford to be magnanimous, so hats off to Anthony Russo for not gloating too much.
Stan Lee just
There’s also meant to be a third “Spider-Man” movie coming as part of Tom Holland’s trilogy.
Set spoilers have already connected “Avengers 4” to 
When 
When 
MOVIEFONE: Let’s take it back to the beginning, and Steven Soderbergh’s involvement in getting you hired for “Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” He was talking to Marvel Studios about something and brought you guys up, right?
You’ve spoken about an exploratory phase of development where you just passed around ideas. What was the hardest thing to lose when it came to finally putting the movie together?
There have been reports that 
Fans should expect “Avengers 4” to be longer than 
The roof of Comic-Con International’s Hall H nearly exploded from the unbridled excitement generated by a second unveiling the 
Democrat/Republican. Yankees/Red Sox. Marvel/DC. It’s possible to love both, it’s possible to hate both. But you probably prefer one over the other. Why, though?