Joe and Anthony Russo have tackled massive films during their careers, but the two upcoming superhero movies they’re about to helm could be their biggest undertaking yet. The sibling filmmakers are reuniting with Marvel Studios to direct the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. While many of the specifics are being kept under wraps, the duo have provided some insight into their approach to the blockbusters. As part of that, they explained the incredibly tedious way they’re keeping track of the characters at their disposal.
When they made Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, the Russos were also in a position in which they had to balance a copious amount of characters. So they had to establish a method of tracking heroes and villains at that point as well. It’s been said that the directors had to rely on cards in order to account for everyone involved in the narratives. And, as they just revealed, that’ll still be their process when it comes to these news flicks:
Anthony Russo: Yes, we continue to use the baseball cards.
Joe Russo: Now they have magnets on them so we can put ‘em on a board and look at ‘em. It’s the only way to keep track of the amount of characters that we’re working with.
Considering it’s “the only way” for the Russos to manage the characters, I’d hope that this method is helpful. Still, the thought of being in a room surrounded by all of those cards just sounds daunting. I’m a Marvel Cinematic Universe fan, who’s quite familiar with the biggest players in the franchise, but the level of problem-solving involved in this creative process seems like a lot. During the brothers’ interview with THR, Anthony Russo shared more thoughts on their approach to handling characters:
And as far as how do we look at who’s in the movies, it’s just a long creative process of exploring where we want to take the story. What is the most surprising and exciting area for us to push into, and which characters help us in that effort?
The Russo Brothers and their collaborators have mostly been tight-lipped in regard to which characters are set to be featured in Doomsday and Secret Wars. Sam Wilson (Captain America), the Fantastic Four and a handful of others have been confirmed for the upcoming Marvel movies. However, there are still plenty of familiar faces (and some newcomers) that could be in the fold as well. One also has to consider that heroes from the various TV shows are now in play, too. As time-consuming as the character-picking process seems to be, I’d love to be a fly on the wall when the Russos are going through the process.
What is known about the pair of films is that they’ll draw inspiration from Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Wars storyline of the comics. If I could take an educated guess, the stories will probably bring together various heroes of the MCU and involve multiversal elements. Doctor Doom, played by the returning Robert Downey Jr., is touted as the Big Bad. Anthony and Joe Russo have discussed the process of crafting Doom and say that Downey has been very hands on.
I’m curious to see who the Russos end up plugging into the films and how. Although this may be a massive task, their prior experience with this process likely benefits them immensely. Let’s just hope they don’t end up buried under a mountain of cards. Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars open in theaters on May 1, 2026 and May 7, 2027, respectively. In the meantime, grab a Disney+ subscription to stream the Marvel movies in order.
