After a relatively quiet 2024—aside from the record-smashing Deadpool vs. Wolverine—the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is roaring back to life in 2025 with a packed slate of highly anticipated releases. This includes Captain America: Brave New World, the anti-hero team-up Thunderbolts, and the debut of Marvel’s First Family in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. All roads, however, lead to two upcoming tentpole events: Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
For Avengers: Doomsday, the Russo brothers, architects of the MCU’s most significant films (Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame), are once again in the director’s chairs. But their return was anything but straightforward.
A Creative Block and a Pivotal Call
After wrapping Endgame, Joe and Anthony Russo had, by their own admission, closed a chapter on their Marvel journey. “Endgame was the end,” Anthony Russo reflected in a recent interview. “It took a little time for us to begin thinking about the MCU as something other than an endpoint.”
In the years following, the Russos remained in touch with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige and Co-President Lou D’Esposito, bouncing around ideas. Still, nothing sparked the creative fire. As Joe Russo confessed, “There were ideas we were trying to wrap our heads around… but we just never found the story.”
The breakthrough came when the brothers reached out to Stephen McFeely, the screenwriter behind the Captain America trilogy and Avengers: Endgame. Joe recalled the conversation vividly: “I called Steve and said, ‘Hey, crazy idea. What do you think if we all go back and do Secret Wars?’”
McFeely’s initial response? A resounding “Fuck no. Absolutely not.” He promptly hung up.
The Idea That Changed Everything
But something about the call must have stuck with McFeely. Early the next morning, he called back. “Alright,” McFeely reportedly said. “I have an idea.”
That idea would become the foundation for not only Avengers: Secret Wars but also Avengers: Doomsday. Anthony Russo described the revelation as a creative lightning bolt. “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.’”
Though the specifics of the plot remain under wraps, the Russos’ excitement is palpable. The story they’ve crafted is described as not just a follow-up to the Infinity Saga but a transformative chapter for the MCU—one that ties together new and old heroes, redefines the stakes, and paves the way for the multiversal madness of Secret Wars.
A New MCU Chapter
With the Russos and McFeely back at the helm, expectations for Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars couldn’t be higher. For Marvel fans, the stakes aren’t just narrative—they’re cultural. Endgame marked the end of an era. Now, with Doomsday, the MCU’s creative architects are set to lay the foundation for a new one.
As the countdown to 2025 begins, one thing is clear: the Avengers are assembling again, and the Russos are ready to lead them into uncharted territory.
Source : Empire Magazine
