Avengers: Endgame Director Speaks Out on the MCU’s Lack of a Plan

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been going strong for nearly a decade-and-a-half now, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. The sprawling franchise continues to work because every new movie and TV show connects into the same ongoing story, a formula that no other franchise has succeeded in emulating. It has always felt like there is a master plan over at Marvel Studios, with Kevin Feige and the other producers planning the story out years in advance. According to Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo, that isn’t actually the case.

Russo, who has directed four MCU films alongside his brother Anthony, recently spoke at the Sands International Film Festival (per Deadline) and explained that Marvel doesn’t have a firm plan in place for its future. Instead, Feige and the rest of the creative team simply have ideas in place. They have concepts as to where they want to go, but the results of the movies and shows they release really dictate what happens next.

“No, the way it works at Marvel is — I’m sure at some point somebody will talk in detail about this, but part of Kevin [Feige]’s brilliance is that there isn’t really a plan,” Russo said. “There’s an idea, but you can’t have a plan if the movie you’re making tanks. There’s no plan after that, right?”

“So it’s really about, as the movie succeeded, then there was sort of enthusiasm about, ‘Well, what else could we do?’ And then that’s when new ideas would come out,” the director continued. “And there were hopes, we hope one day we can get to the story if you keep doing this, right? Maybe we can all get there, like Infinity War and Endgame, but a lot of the stuff was made up in between the movies.”

Marvel has ideas of where certain storylines will go, but the company remains flexible enough to always change things up on the fly. If something doesn’t work in a certain movie, or fans don’t respond to a specific character, the direction can be adjusted without too much change in overall plans.

Do you think the MCU process has worked to this point? What do you think is coming next for the record-breaking franchise? Let us know in the comments!