Anthony Russo: Surprising Marvel Audiences Starts With Surprising Ourselves

Anthony Russo, co-director of "Avengers: Doomsday," says evolving Marvel's iconic superhero characters is "very difficult" — and that the filmmakers must "surprise ourselves" before they can surprise audiences.

Russo spoke during a Q&A after a screening of "Avengers: Endgame Encore," with his comments reported by GamesRadar+.

"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 pushed back on the idea of a single, unified fandom. "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."

Russo directs the film with his brother and longtime collaborator Joe Russo. He said the pair 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," Russo said. "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."

The question of how far Marvel can push its characters is not abstract for the Russos. Nearly a year ago, an "Avengers: Doomsday" trailer showed a markedly more serious Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, than the version audiences saw in 2022's "Thor: Love and Thunder." That Taika Waititi-directed film performed well at the box office but divided fans who felt the character had become, in Hemsworth's own words, "too silly."

Russo also confirmed that the film's cast list remains incomplete. "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."

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

"Avengers: Doomsday" opens in theaters on Dec. 18. How the Russos balance fan expectations against their stated need for surprise will shape the next chapter of the franchise's most valuable characters.