Wow, Marvel Directors Joe And Anthony Russo Used A Lot Of Family Members In Captain America: The Winter Soldier

We’ve come a long way from 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That was like two phases and a number of key players’ deaths ago, but directors Joe and Anthony recently shared a pretty adorable fun fact about the film -- they snuck a whole lot of family members in via background roles. And by the looks of it, one would think that just about the entire Russo clan popped into the superhero film.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier was the first Marvel Cinematic Universe film Joe and Anthony Russo worked on, so they were understandably excited, so much so that they apparently brought many family members to set and stuck them in the film as extras. In a throwback post on the Russo Brothers’ Twitter, they’ve various members of their family tree in the background of the film. We’ve got their parents, sister, kids, cousin, and a whole bunch of nephews hidden throughout The Winter Soldier. Take a look for yourself:

In addition, the brothers have also shown us a behind-the-scenes look at an explosion in downtown Cleveland, where The Winter Soldier was partially filmed. They say that the film is the third in which they’ve shot in their hometown of Cleveland.

This kind of explains why we see so many Russos being put into The Winter Soldier, they make for convenient extras since the family is rooted where they were filming. Or it was just a fun way to mark the brothers’ first MCU film, bringing the whole family in on the fun and cementing the family into the universe forever.

While the rest of the family might be sticking close to Cleveland, the famous Russo Brothers are not. They may have finished up with the MCU (for now at least), but they’re keeping plenty busy with other projects that are taking them far from home. They’ve snatched Tom Holland from the MCU for their upcoming film Cherry, which is going to theaters and Apple TV+ in just a couple short weeks.

Joe and Anthony Russo also have an Extraction sequel in the works and are in pre-production on The Gray Man, both films star MCU alums: Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans, respectively. Those films, along with a TV adaptation of Magic: The Gathering and a few other projects, have the Russo Brothers’ working with a pretty full schedule for the next couple years at least.

Even if they don’t put their family in any of their future projects, a cameo in Captain America: The Winter Soldier would certainly be cool enough for anyone. I know I’d be begging the Russo Brothers to put me in next to Chris Evans if we were related. In fact, they shouldn’t be surprised if they get a call from a long lost cousin twice removed when they’re working on The Gray Man.