'Captain Marvel' Directors Reveal Joe and Anthony Russo's Influence

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a collaborative effort among many storytellers, all working under the guidance of producer Kevin Feige. Every movie so far is working toward Avengers: Endgame, and Captain Marvel is the last movie to come before the crossover.

Marvel Studios newcomers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are handling Carol Danvers' debut, and they leaned on Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo for advice. The new Captain Marvel directors told Spot.ph about the influence the Avengers directors had on their film.

"Joe and Anthony, they were so helpful to us," said Fleck. "They were giving us advice on things we wouldn't even think we needed advice on. It was great, they're great collaborators. They've made four of these movies now, and they're just good guys and great directors."

The Avengers directors were also influenced by the story Boden and Fleck were telling in Captain Marvel, as they'll have the daunting task of introducing Carol Danvers into the pantheon of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

The Russos spoke with CinemaBlend about the challenge of bringing in someone as powerful as Captain Marvel while making sure the threat of Thanos isn't overshadowed by her abilities.

"It's always a concern of ours about overpowering characters, because the reason that people relate to these characters is their humanity, and that they're flawed," said Joe. "And the reason we love working so much with Captain America was that he was limited, and his heart was his superpower, you know? So we're all acutely aware of the dangers of having an overly powerful character. [But] we like sensitive storytelling, so… we found a thoughtful way through it."

"That's what kind of fires us up, I think, on a storytelling level, to be honest with you," added Anthony. "Because when you do have powerful characters, you have to work that much harder to find their vulnerabilities and complexities. And Joe was mentioning on a storytelling level… and keep the stakes high! Because that's where those characters are vulnerable... As storytellers, that's been one of the most fun things we've had working with these characters is figuring out ways into them where they are vulnerable and they aren't all powerful."

Avengers: Endgame will hit theaters on April 26th. Captain Marvel premieres in theaters on March 8th.