Kevin Feige officially confirmed the Russo bros. as directors for the next Avengers film during Marvel’s San Diego Comic-Con panel, and Robert Downey Jr. is set as Doctor Doom.
The news officially marks a creative makeover to Avengers 5, which Feige announced onstage two years ago in Hall H as Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. The film would have starred Jonathan Majors as the time-traveling villain Kang, however in December, a New York jury found Majors guilty of harassment and assault of a former girlfriend, which caused Marvel to cut ties with the actor, and necessitated an overhaul of the film.
The move comes amid the record-setting opening weekend for Deadpool & Wolverine, which will easily land the top-opening of all time for an R-rated feature, and which has injected a renewed sense of energy to the MCU.
The Russo Bros. will direct the new Avengers movie after making a surprise return to Marvel following their record-breaking run with Avengers: Endgame (2019), which for a time topped Avatar as the biggest movie of all time. The pair also directed Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Avengers: Infinity War.
The Avengers franchise is the crown jewel for Marvel Studios, which built its reputation by achieving what many thought was impossible when it combined the heroes of Iron Man, Captain America and Thor movies for a team-up that became a genre-defining hit in 2012.
