Avengers: Doomsday director Anthony Russo has opened up about the difficulties of returning to the world of the MCU and a collection of beloved characters.
Speaking at a Q&A following Avengers: Endgame Encore in New York attended by GamesRadar+, he was asked how he balances honoring what audiences love with characters while also moving the story on.
“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,” he replied during the talk at the 92nd Street Y. “But the one thing we always like to remind people of, you know, fandom does not speak with a single voice. 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.”
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Russo went on to say that they have “a lot of respect for the storytelling journey that these characters have had up to this point”. He continued: “That’s part of their magic, a big part of their magic. But at the same time, 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.”
One particular role this was a huge challenge with was Victor Von Doom, given that he is played by Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. Tony Stark has a powerful ending in Avengers: Endgame, sacrificing himself to save the world. So it’s definitely no mean feat to bring him back as a new character who may be the biggest villain that the MCU has ever seen.
“It is figuring out that balance of how do you challenge yourself, i.e. casting Robert Downey as Victor Von Doom, and then and how do you sort of stay faithful to the very thoughtful and wonderfully effective storytelling road that’s been traveled up until this point,” Russo said about that.
Avengers: Endgame Encore is now out. For more, check out our guides to the Marvel timeline and all the new Marvel movies and shows on the way in 2026 and beyond.
