The Russo Bros. recently revealed to Empire Magazine that it was their longtime Marvel screenwriter Stephen McFeely who came up with the idea that lured them back to the MCU after “Avengers: Endgame” to helm the upcoming “Avengers” movies “Doomsday” and “Secret Wars.” However, McFeely originally turned down the chance to write more Marvel movies with a blunt “fuck no” to Joe and Anthony Russo.
“’Endgame’ was the end, and it took a little time for us to begin to think about it as something other than an end,” Anthony Russo said. “Really what happened was, we ended up stumbling upon an idea that activated all of us. You couldn’t see it coming until it came, and once it came it was like, ‘Well, that’s a story we need to tell.’”
“There were ideas that we were trying to wrap our heads around that preceded this one, and we just never found the story,” Joe Russo added. “I remember calling Steve and said, ‘Hey, crazy idea. What do you think if we all go back and do “Secret Wars?”‘ You were like, ‘Fuck no. Absolutely not.’ And then you hung up. And the next morning at 7:30 you called and were like, ‘Alright, I have an idea.’”
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“Avengers: Doomsday” and “Secret Wars” are being written by McFeely and Christopher Markus, the longtime Marvel screenwriters who created “Agent Carter,” penned three “Captain America” movies and also wrote “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.” Four of these films were directed by the Russo Bros. While McFeely’s full idea for the next “Avengers” movies has yet to be revealed, it does include the return of Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. to the MCU as the villain Doctor Doom.
Joe Russo previously revealed to GamesRadar+ that the filmmakers and Downey had already been talking to Marvel about a different project when the idea for “Doomsday” and “Secret Wars” was pitched and couldn’t be resisted.
“Why would we come back if we didn’t feel like we had a story that had that possibility of being on an equal footing with ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Endgame’ unless there’s a kernel there for an idea that’s really explosive?” Joe said.
The Russo Bros. have once again collaborated with McFeely and Markus on the upcoming Netflix movie “The Electric State,” streaming March 14. “Avengers: Doomsday,” meanwhile, is on Disney’s release calendar for May 1, 2026 and will go into production this year.