Following the string of announcements that came out of Marvel Studios' Hall H panel at Comic-Con, Kevin Feige has confirmed that the Russo Brothers will not be returning to direct the two Avengers films that will release in 2025. While he did not rule out their return to the MCU for other films, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars will be helmed by a new director.
The revelation follows the announcement that the two Avengers films will conclude the new storyline that the MCU has been building since the Infinity Saga concluded. Feige officially dubbed this saga The Multiverse Saga, confirming that the next set of phases will have multiversal story elements.
"They're not connected to it," Feige told Deadline about the brother's directing status. "They have been, I think, very direct about that. We love them, they love us. We want to find something to do together, but it's not this." The brothers were heavily involved in previous Marvel Studios phases, making their MCU directorial debut in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and concluding with Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. The two-part finale of The Infinity Saga was received with overwhelming positivity by fans and critics and became two of the highest-grossing films of all time. Recently, the directing duo of Anthony and Joe Russo released The Gray Man, an action-adventure film starring Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling. The Netflix film was received well by viewers, with an audience score of 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
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While The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars currently have an unknown director, Marvel fans have plenty of films and TV shows to look forward to until 2025. Other projects that were announced during the panel include James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is scheduled to premiere May 5, 2023, Blade for a November 3, 2023, release, and Captain America: New World Order, set to be released on May 3, 2024. Also, Thunderbolts was set to release on July 26, 2024, and Fantastic Four on November 8, 2024.
Aside from the major announcements revealed at Comic-Con, it seems as though more will come during the D23 Expo on September 9. The D23 Expo is a biennial exposition event, and the name D23 refers to D for Disney and 23 for 1923, which is the year Walt Disney founded the company. Approximately eight Phase 6 projects are expected to be announced at this year's D23 expo.
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars are scheduled to hit theaters in 2025.
Source: Deadline