They've directed FOUR of the biggest MCU movies to date.
Looking back over the MCU, and Marvel movie head honcho guy Kevin Feige has made some interesting choices when it came to who would take up the director's chair for the projects.
The majority of the directors have only hung around, so far, for one movie: Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk), Kenneth Branagh (Thor), Joe Johnston (Captain America: The First Avenger), Shane Black (Iron Man 3), Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World), Scott Derrickson (Doctor Strange), Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok), Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Captain Marvel).
Sure, some of them are in talks to return, but so far, the directors to make more than one MCU movie are on a far shorter list: Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Iron Man 2), Joss Whedon (Avenger's Assemble, Avengers: Age Of Ultron), James Gunn (Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.1 & 2), Peyton Redd (Ant-Man, Ant-Man & The Wasp), and Jon Watts (Spider-Man: Homecoming, the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home).
Some directors were cut before they even began - Edgar Wright for Ant-Man, Patty Jenkins for Thor: The Dark World - and some have been
quite outspoken about not working well within the MCU.
However, Joe and Anthony Russo have now directed four movies for Marvel, and not just any four movies, but four of the biggest movies within the MCU: Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and now Avengers: Endgame.
It goes without saying the clearly Feige, and the MCU as a whole, trust the Russo Brothers implicitly with the keys to the franchise, and when we had a chance to sit down with the directors to take about Endgame, we asked why do they think they're so particularly well suited.
"We spent about a decade in television, just doing a lot of television work, and I think that background helped to prepare us for the serialised stories that we have going in the MCU," Anthony Russo tells us.
Before wading into big budget blockbusters, the Russos began their careers directing some of the best episodes of Community, Happy Endings, and Arrested Development.
"If you look at all of our work, Joe and I have always been drawn to ensemble work," Anthony continues, "from our very first movie, and through all of our television work, we love working with ensembles.
"I think that really suited us in the way that the MCU was evolving, and I think that just in terms of the way The Winter Soldier flowed into- once we decided to do Civil War, as our second Captain America movie, that was really what opened up a road forward for us within the MCU.
"That movie was so much about examining the Avengers as a family unit, and breaking them up, basically divorcing them in that movie. And that was the setting for Thanos to arrive, because what better moment for the greatest threat the Avengers are ever gonna face than having the Avengers at their absolute lowest point, and not even be the Avengers anymore in many respects.
"So I think it was when we were in post-production on Civil War, that is when it first occurred to us, and I think also to Kevin Feige, that we were probably the best people to bring the story forward from that moment. Just simply because the specific story work we had done within our movies in the MCU.
"But also because we have these skills from television and this taste for ensemble storytelling that I think complimented where we were going with the narrative in the MCU."
You can listen to our full interview with the Russo Brothers, which also includes which of the Avengers is most likely to ruin a take because they can't stop giggling, as well the arrival of an LGBTQ+ character within the MCU, right here:
Additionally, you can check out our chats with Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow (Scarlett Johannson), and Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) as they discuss all they can possibly discuss - without giving any spoilers! - on the new movie, right
here.
