If it weren't for the Russos, I just don't think Captain America would be as popular a character in the MCU. I mean, after all, it looked like Marvel and Disney seemed to want to bank on Robert Downey Jr.s Iron Man as the driving force of the Avengers.
However, after the slight but amusing "Captain America: The First Avenger" directed by "Jumanji" helmer Joe Johnston, Marvel Head Kevin Feige quickly switched directions for Cap and hired Joe and Anthony Russo to helm "The Winter Soldier." That film was a game-changer for the genre, and the closest to near cinematic heaven a superhero has come since Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy. The follow-up "Civil War," a film that, by all accounts, was an Avengers affair, but much better, sealed the deal that the Russos were the go-to guys for Feige. No surprise then that he hired them to direct the last two movies of the MCU, this week's released "Infinity War" and next year's as of yet untitled sequel.
Going back to the transition between "The First Avenger" and "The Winter Soldier." What a drastic change that was for Marvel. They were still trying to find their own identity, relying on what Favreau did with "Iron Man" and, by all accounts, "The First Avenger" is an ok film, but, when viewed again today, it feels much more like a DCEU film than any Marvel film we've come to expect the last 7 years or so.
"The Winter Soldier" really changed the game; It changed the style, the tone, the seriousness, hell, the Russos even decided to bring a cinematic feel to "The Winter Soldier" by heavily borrowing from the 1970's political thriller and not even being subtle about their affection for it by hiring Robert Redford who starred in one of the very best of that genre in the 1970s: "The Three Days of the Condor."
And so The Russos, who only directed two other films before being hired for "The Winter Soldier," the sligth but amusing "Welcome to Collinwood," and the God awful "You, Me and Dupree," have found a niche for the aciton-thriller and have become the two hottest filmmakers in American studio filmmaking. With their MCU almost done, I was wondering, what's next for them?
According to an interview with Empire, the brothers are adamant at their next project not being a Marvel movie.
“The next film that we will direct will most likely be for our company, and most likely be a tentpole,” the Russos said. “[Christopher] Markus and [Stephen] McFeely have come on board in a very unique capacity, as what we’re calling Co-Presidents of Story. We’ve been developing inside the studio system for many years, inside networks, and we know what works about them and what doesn’t work about them.”
There it is, folks. Russos not returning to the MCU, for now.