‘Doomsday’ Director Says Evolving Marvel Heroes Is Hard, But Audiences Want Surprise

Anthony Russo, co-director of Avengers: Doomsday, has admitted that evolving the franchise’s beloved superheroes is a constant struggle. Speaking at a Q&A following a screening of Avengers: Endgame Encore, Russo explained that the directors rely on their own internal taste meters to balance moving the story forward with honoring the characters fans already love.

“It’s a very difficult part of the process because, I mean, we basically just have to use our own meters because we love the characters, we love the history, we love them in the same way that many fans do,” Russo said. He added that fandom does not speak with a single voice, noting that “there’s a wide variety of opinion in terms of who responds to which characters and which versions of which characters people respond to, it’s a very complex relationship that people have with the characters.”

Russo’s Respect for the Past

Russo and his brother and co-director Joe have “a lot of respect for the storytelling journey that these characters have had up to this point.” “That’s part of their magic, a big part of their magic,” he said. But the directors also want to surprise themselves — and audiences.

“We need to surprise ourselves in terms of who those characters are, where they can go, what they can do, what can happen, and in doing that, we hopefully surprise audiences as well,” Russo explained.

The Case of Thor

The comments come nearly a year after an Avengers: Doomsday trailer spotlighted a much more serious Thor (Chris Hemsworth) than Marvel fans had seen in 2022’s Thor: Love and Thunder. That Taika Waititi-directed film performed well at the box office, but it divided fans who felt the character had become, in Hemsworth’s own words, “too silly.”

Russo’s remarks suggest the directors are aware of that tension. They want to honor the characters’ past while pushing them somewhere new.

Cast Announcements Still Coming

Russo also revealed that the film’s full cast has yet to be announced. “The cast is so large, and we’ve announced some of the cast, and we haven’t announced some of the cast,” he said. “I get confused myself over who we’ve announced and not announced, so I have to just slow down.”

So far, the confirmed cast includes Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Paul Rudd, Simu Liu, Tom Hiddleston and more.

The Dec. 18 Release

Avengers: Doomsday will hit theaters on Dec. 18.

“We need to surprise ourselves in terms of who those characters are, where they can go, what they can do, what can happen, and in doing that, we hopefully surprise audiences as well.”

Russo’s admission is a charmingly honest peek behind the curtain. The directors know they are walking a tightrope: they love the characters, fans love the characters, and the characters have a long history to live up to. But they also know that fans disagree on what works and what doesn’t.

The key line is simple: “we need to surprise ourselves in terms of who those characters are, where they can go, what they can do, what can happen.” That is the honest approach. If the directors are bored, the audience will feel it.

Russo’s confusion about who has been announced is amusing, too. It suggests the casting process is sprawling and chaotic, which fits a film this ambitious.

The Thor: Love and Thunder comparison is instructive. That film was divisive, and fans reacted strongly to the direction it took. Avengers: Doomsday seems to be leaning the other way, at least in the early trailers. Whether that pays off depends on whether the directors can surprise themselves and the audience at the same time.

The verdict is not in yet. The film hits theaters on Dec. 18, and until then, fans will have to wait and see whether the directors have truly surprised anyone.

Source material: “‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Co-Director Explains It’s ‘Very Difficult’ to Evolve Marvel Characters, but ‘We Need to Surprise Ourselves’ and ‘Audiences’,” Variety.

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