When Avengers: Endgame was released in theaters in 2019, everyone thought that it would be Robert Downey Jr.'s final Marvel Cinematic Universe film as well as for directors Joe and Anthony Russo, but it turns out that quite as final as fans once believed. Back in July at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige officially announced that the Russo Brothers are returning to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars after Destin Daniel Cretton departed the project to focus on the Shang-Chi sequel (he's since been reported to direct Spider-Man 4 as well). The panel also revealed that Robert Downey Jr. is surprisingly returning to the MCU as the film's villain, Doctor Doom.
During a recent interview with GamesRadar+ at MCM Comic Con 2024, Avengers: Doomsday co-director Joe Russo talked about the connection between the filmmakers and Downey Jr. “We’re all very close,” Joe Russo told the outlet. “We had been working on another project before Marvel approached all of us – so we’re working on another project with Robert – and there was a story that evolved through conversations that we got very excited about. Because it’s always got to be the story.”
Story details are still being kept under wraps, but Joe teases something "really explosive" when Avengers: Doomsday is released in theaters: “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?”
Before Feige confirmed that the fifth Avengers film would be Doomsday, the project was titled Avengers: Kang Dynasty. Just like what Marvel Studios had done with Josh Brolin's Thanos in the earlier phases of the MCU, various MCU projects were poising Kang the Conqueror (played by Jonathan Majors) to be the multiverse-spanning villain. However, last year, Marvel announced they were parting ways with Majors after he was found guilty on charges of both assault and harrassment.
Filming for the fifth Avengers film is set to begin in Spring 2025, so we'll have to wait a while before we get anything concrete about the sequel. Meanwhile, the Russo Brothers are preparing for the upcoming theatrical launch of their next film, The Electric State, which is scheduled to release on Netflix on March 14, 2025. Avengers: Doomsday is currently scheduled to release in theaters on May 1, 2026.
The Russos are set to reunite with MCU actors Anthony Mackie and Chris Pratt as well as long-time Marvel collaborators Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus, who composed the script of The Electric State based on a Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag's graphic novel. Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown will also star in the dystopian science fiction film.
What is The Electric State about?
“The story felt like a fairy tale to us,” Anthony Russo told Netflix earlier this month. “We really wanted to play into those very elemental aspects of a fairy tale.”
“We grew up on a steady diet of science-fiction and fantasy,” Joe Russo continued. “And so our brains are always [there]. Our creative ethos is always attracted to these big, fantastical ideas that can present really interesting themes but also be highly entertaining at the same time.”
Netflix describes The Electric State as a "retro-futuristic adventure about an orphaned teen's journey to find her brother after a robot uprising."
