Avengers: Doomsday Directors Make Shocking Confirmation That Repeats a Major Marvel Issue

Ever since the Marvel Cinematic Universe took off and became the blockbuster juggernaut that dominated pop culture for over a decade, one of the biggest problems was the expectations that were created around it. As Marvel’s ambitions grew (along with Disney’s interest in making more billion-dollar movies) it meant that release dates for films were set before anything had even been finished, resulting in movies that were put into production without completed scripts. Truth be told, this formula has actually been set by Marvel from the beginning, with 2008’s Iron Man quite famously not having a complete screenplay and scenes being written whole cloth on the day of production.

Though this has worked out for Marvel more often than not, it’s still something that causes intense anxiety. To wit, it’s surprising to hear Avengers: Doomsday director Joe and Anthony Russo flat-out confirm that filming on the movie happened without a complete script, and that the nebulous nature of working with actors on the scene is actually their preference. “We always view the script as a living organism,” Joe Russo told The AP. “We’re improvisation-based, rehearsal-based directors.”

Avengers: Doomsday Directors Confirm Filming Started Without a Script

Joe Russo went on to note that listening to their cast and what they want to do with their characters is a big piece of the puzzle for them. Given the nature of the business, and the size of the cast too, the Avengers: Doomsday director noted that they often wouldn’t have some of the actors for the film on set to rehearse until weeks or days before the scenes would be shot. Russo added: “We like to see what the actors bring to the characters…A lot of the time, that’s when the magic happens.”

From one point of view, it makes sense that this would be Russo’s tactic. A huge chunk of the actors who make up Avengers: Doomsday have been playing their characters for over a decade, with the likes of Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth consistently playing their parts since 2010, while Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have been playing their X-Men roles off and on for over twenty-five years. To that end, they know them well, and they know what they’ve already done and what would be exciting.

On the other hand, it’s easy to see why confirmation that one of the biggest movies of the MCU in years didn’t have a finished script might be worrying. This tactic may have worked in the past for plenty of movies, but there’s a reason that Marvel’s distinguished competition doesn’t greenlight movies until the script is complete and in great shape. Even then, that sometimes results in a massive bomb.

We’re just three months away from the release of Avengers: Doomsday, so time will tell if this gamble paid off once again for Marvel or if it was an unforced error.

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