Avengers: Doomsday is approaching, and Marvel Studios is starting the marketing and promotional rollout for the film, starting with it directing duo, The Russo Bros. The Russos recently did an in-depth interview at their AGBO production studio in honor of the 10th anniversary of Captain America: Civil War‘s release. Of course, a lot has changed in the last ten years, and the Russo Bros. are coming back to direct Avengers: Doomsday under very different circumstances. There’s a lot that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has to prove with this film, and it has to run deeper than just epic spectacle.
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We already know that Avengers: Doomsday will feature the largest ensemble of Marvel movie actors ever assembled (pun intended); however, we don’t know how the film’s story will justify this massive crossover event, or whether it will have the substance and heart to resonate with audiences. Well, strangely enough, The Russos say that Doomsday and Civil War will have very similar thematic subtexts, which will just get explored in a very different way.
Avengers Doomsday Is Multiversal Civil War
During the interview, Anthony Russo reflected on how Captain America: Civil War worked so well and still resonates today because Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) were both relatable, even though they stood on opposite sides of the conflict. As the interviewer pointed out, that’s much the same dynamic that seems to be taking shape in Avengers: Doomsday.
We already know that Doctor Doom will be battling to save the multiverse from total collapse, while teams like the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and the X-Men will each be battling to save their respective universes. It was exactly the quandary that The Leader (Tim Blake Nelson) posed to Sam Wilson/Captain America (Anthony Mackie) at the end of Captain America: Brave New World: who’s really a “villain” when heroes of different realities all collide?
What makes the conflict even more challenging is that when two of the main contenders collide, it’s going to feel very much like a replay of Captain America: Civil War. Robert Downey Jr. plays Doctor Doom, while Chris Evans is making his long-awaited return as Steve Rogers. You don’t need rumors and leaks to surmise that Avengers: Doomsday‘s climactic battle will most likely be between these two men, and the Russos hint at that by connecting what’s going to happen in Doomsday to what occurred in Civil War.
Anthony Russo explained that, even with Downey now playing Doom, the story of Doomsday is also about character evolution. “It’s very much [that] the unresolved aspirations of those characters, and flaws of those characters, continue to unfold as we move into Doomsday,” he said.
Joe Russo emphasized the balance between Marvel movies offering new and self-contained stories, and still utilizing all the storytelling of the larger franchise universe. “There’s a place for everything,” Russo said. “There’s a place for closed-ended expressions; there’s a place for serialized storytelling. It should all coexist. Why not?” I want a diversity of experiences; I don’t want to have to get one thing over and over again. And Marvel’s done better than anybody in history at serialized storytelling, at scale.”
The director went on to categorize Avengers: Doomsday as “a complete re-invention,” of the Civil War concept, saying Marvel Studios is taking “another swing,” with its Multiverse Saga climax, one that will go against some viewers’ expectations: “I don’t think the audience is expecting it at all, what happens in the movie, its tone, and its subject matter,” Russo said. “But I’m hoping it feels like another shift for them in that serialized story.”
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