Marvel Studios will play it safe with Avengers 5 and 6, as the Russo Brothers are set to return as directors
Both parties will benefit from this.
Sorry if you wanted a new visual style for the next two Avengers movies, because we're returning to what once worked extremely well with the Russo Brothers. Honestly, after about three rough years for Marvel Studios and Disney, who can blame them?
The Hollywood Reporter shared this news, firmly saying that early talks are ongoing, but the deal seems pretty much locked in. For the filmmakers, who departed the House of M after two fantastic Captain America sequels and two era-defining Avengers entries that became two of the highest-grossing movies of all time, this is also a positive development, as their post-Endgame directing work (Cherry and The Gray Man) has been nothing but a big disappointment.
"The hiring ends a months-long, high-stakes search by the studio for filmmakers to oversee the fifth and sixth Avengers movies," THR adds. That much is true, as we've been hearing plenty of wild rumors and reports ever since Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton departed Avengers 5, once titled The Kang Dynasty, before Jonathan Majors turned out to be a real-life villain. As for Secret Wars, a director was never announced.
The latest rumor, which THR seems to back up, was that Deadpool & Wolverine's Shawn Levy, a Marvel newcomer, had been offered the XXL gig following fantastic early buzz for the threequel, which is set to demolish the box office next week. Deadline later added that Levy chose to focus on future, already-started projects instead, among which there's another mystery Star Wars movie that may or may not see the light of day at Lucasfilm.
While the Russo Brothers' post-Avengers output has been weak, they've certainly become megaproducers via their AGBO banner, producing best picture winner Everything Everywhere All at Once and massive streaming titles such as Amazon's Citadel and Netflix's two Extraction movies, starring Thor actor Chris Hemsworth. Before risking being thrown into 'director's jail' (which could happen if this year's The Electric State, starring Millie Bobby Brown, also disappoints), landing the massive Marvel Studios gig seems like the most logical path forward.
For Marvel, which has been struggling recently due to spreading its efforts too wide and thin despite big wins such as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Loki season 2, locking down two of the main architects behind the last two Avengers movies to help salvage the back half of the Multiverse Saga also seems quite reasonable. As much as we'd like someone different to approach the event flicks, "people just might need a little old-fashioned," as Agent Coulson once said.