The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is gearing up for a thrilling new chapter with the upcoming releases of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who previously helmed Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, have shared exciting insights on how these films will mark a fresh start for the franchise. In an interview with Brazilian outlet Omelete, the Russo brothers highlighted that these movies will serve as a "new beginning" and lay the groundwork for Phase 7 of the MCU.
Joe Russo elaborated, "The greatest thing that ever happened is we got to get immersed in a 20 movie arc and see an ending to that arc. What's compelling about these two new Avengers movies is they're a beginning. It's a new beginning. We told an ending story [with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame] and now we're going to tell a beginning story. Who knows where we’ll go from there?"
The Russo brothers also discussed their return to the Marvel universe. Anthony Russo explained, "We didn’t know what our road forward was in the MCU after we finished Endgame. What happened was, a creative idea just came to us and that ended up feeling like the right idea. It motivated us to do it again. We feel like we have something fresh, we feel like we have a story that’s important and needs to be told. We have an amazing group of collaborators again, some old and some new. We’re very excited."
Joe Russo added that Doomsday is a "difficult" movie due to the high "expectations on it" to revitalize the theatrical experience post-pandemic. Interestingly, the Russos revealed that it was Marvel producer Kevin Feige who proposed bringing Robert Downey Jr. back for Doomsday. Joe Russo recounted, "That conversation was had a while ago, and Robert tried to talk us into doing it and we said no. We just didn’t have a story, we didn’t have a way in, so we were resistant for a while. And then one day, [Endgame writer] Steve McFeely called us and said, ‘I have an idea.’"
Who Will Be the New Avengers in the MCU?
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Joe Russo concluded the interview by emphasizing their approach to villains, stating, "The only thing I’ll say about the movie is this: we love villains who think they’re the heroes of their own stories. That’s when they become three-dimensional and they become more interesting. When you have an actor like Robert Downey, you have to create a three-dimensional, well-shaped character for the audience. That’s where a lot of our focus is going."
Avengers: Doomsday is slated to hit theaters on May 1, 2026, with Secret Wars following a year later on May 27, 2027. Fans will have to wait a bit longer to see what the Russo brothers have in store.
In other MCU news, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige has teased the integration of X-Men characters into the franchise. Speaking at the Disney APAC Content Showcase in Singapore, Feige hinted that fans would see "some X-Men players that you might recognize" in upcoming MCU films, though he did not specify which characters or movies. He further elaborated, "I think you will see that continues in our next few movies with some X-Men players that you might recognize. Right after that, the whole story of Secret Wars really leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men. Again, [it’s] one of those dreams come true. We finally have the X-Men back."
Feige also emphasized the importance of the X-Men in the MCU's future post-Secret Wars, stating, "When we were preparing for Avengers: Endgame years ago, it was a question of getting to the grand finale of our narrative, and then we had to start all over again after that. This time, on the road to Secret Wars, we already know very well what the story is going to be until then and afterwards. The X-Men are an important part of that future."
It appears that Phase 7 of the MCU will be heavily influenced by the X-Men, with Storm already making her debut in What If...? Season 3. Additionally, Marvel Studios has added three untitled movie projects to its 2028 release schedule: February 18, 2028; May 5, 2028; and November 10, 2028, with speculation that one of these could be an X-Men film.
