Russo Brothers Weigh in on MCU “Redirection” After Avengers: Endgame

April 18, 2023, 2:53pm

(L-R): Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Kathryn Newton as Cassandra "Cassie" Lang, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp in Marvel Studios' ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.

The first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Five of storytelling got the franchise off to a rough start, as Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has had a disappointing critical and financial response, with some audiences thinking this doesn’t bode well for the series’ future, but former MCU director Joe Russo recently addressed the storytelling shift, encouraging fans to put their faith in Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. With the first three phases of the MCU culminating in the payoff of Avengers: Endgame, Russo addressed how, while Phases Four and Five are exploring other storytelling avenues, Feige clearly has a plan that audiences will want to be patient to learn more about.

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“There’s nobody better at telling stories than Kevin Feige right now. If you’re going to bet on anybody, you bet on him,” Russo shared with RadioTimes. “I think that the type of story that unfolded in the phases that we worked on [was] a very specific kind of story that wrapped itself up in those phases and now it’s time for a new story, and I think that’s the direction that Marvel’s headed in. They’re telling you a very different story, a very new story and I think the audience just needs to be patient with the redirection because you can’t keep telling the same story over and over or you lose the audience.”

While the first three phases were more straightforward storylines featuring compelling characters, the current phases are exploring time travel and alternate universes, which opens up the scope of the franchise in entirely unexpected and ambitious ways. Additionally, by introducing all-new heroes with unique powers, audiences are still familiarizing themselves with new abilities.

“I think they’re taking some very big swings and they’re playing around with the tone and they’re championing diversity as much as anyone in the storytelling space right now and all of these things are huge wins for large-scale storytelling,” Russo continued.

Upcoming entries in Phase Five include the films Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels, Captain America: New World Order, Thunderbolts, and Blade and the TV series Secret Invasion, Loki Season 2, Marvel’s What If…? Season 2, Ironheart, Echo, Agatha: Coven of Chaos, and Daredevil: Born Again.