By Kayla DeKraker
Unexpected storylines and timeline jumps don’t surprise Marvel Universe fans, but AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY promises to reinvent the franchise in an unexpected way.
“That serial shifting and changing and surprising you and then reinventing itself and then shifting and changing and then surprising you — that’s exciting and I think you’re going to see some shifting and changing [with DOOMSDAY]. So, get ready for it,” Joe Russo said.
“Look, we were with Rob[ert Downey Jr.] earlier today. We were both talking about this concept that we are back to phase zero. This is starting over from scratch. We want to make sure everybody feels like this isn’t leaning on anything from the past,” he added.
Alongside Downey, who plays Dr. Doom in DOOMSDAY, the movie features a cast stacked with iconic Marvel stars, including Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, and many more.
“Each one of those actors is playing somebody’s favorite character,” Russo said of the cast, “and so if you’re not going to search the character properly, then you’re going to disappoint someone in that audience. We grew up in the biggest Italian family…We understand how to tell stories with multiple characters.”
But he and his brother Anthony Russo understand that they can’t make everyone happy.
Related: AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY Actor Calls Movie a ‘Dream Come True’—Here’s Why
“I think the part of the problem with culture today is everything’s conflict-driven, because social media is conflict-driven, because that’s what’s sticky, that’s what keeps you on social media,” he said. “If you’re happy, you’re not on social media, you are out living your life. You’re not worried about what other people are doing, you’re not worried about what your neighbor said.”
He added, “If we don’t stop attacking every step in our own sector…We’re not going to have [anything] left, because we’re going to go down some rabbit hole where everything is just neutral.”
While DOOMSDAY’s storyline is under wraps, Anthony shared that Stephen McFeely, who co-wrote scripts for CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, THOR: THE DARK WORLD and other MCU movies, had a “creative idea that reignited” the brothers’ interest in the superhero genre.
“He came up with this creative idea that reignited [the project], and I can’t talk about that creative idea because it’s the basis for Doomsday, but that all of a sudden broke the skies open for us, and we saw all new kinds of possibilities with that idea,” he said at SXSW London.
Joe added, “A lot of that has to do with very subtle POV shifts throughout the story.”
At the event, Downey said, “We’re literally zeroing out the board and we’re going to try to earn your trust and respect all over again. With the likes of [directors Joe and Anthony Russo], I think we’ve got a pretty good shot.”
AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY is set to release in theaters Dec. 18, 2026.
Read Next: CAPTAIN AMERICA Star Predicts AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY Will Bring Back ‘Old Marvel Feeling’
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