Avengers directors Anthony and Joe Russo claim Marvel's recent failures are not ... trends now
Filmmakers Anthony Russo and Joe Russo are chiming in on the ongoing debate about 'superhero fatigue.'
The directors known as the Russo Brothers are behind some of Marvel's biggest hits, namely 2018's Avengers: Infinity War ($678.8 million domestic, $2.052 billion worldwide) and 2019's Avengers: Endgame ($858.3 million domestic, $2.799 billion worldwide).
After Endgame, though, most Marvel movies haven't come close to replicating that kind of success at the box office, leading to the term 'superhero fatigue' being bandied about more and more.
During a visit to the Sands International Film Festival GamesRadar caught up with the filmmakers for their thoughts on Marvel's recent failures.
'I think it’s fatigue in general. The superhero fatigue question was around long before the work we were doing,' Anthony Russo said.
Filmmakers Anthony Russo and Joe Russo are chiming in on the ongoing debate about 'superhero fatigue'
The directors known as the Russo Brothers are behind some of Marvel's biggest hits, namely 2018's Avengers: Infinity War ($678.8 million domestic, $2.052 billion worldwide) and 2019's Avengers: Endgame ($858.3 million domestic, $2.799 billion worldwide)
'So, it's sort of an eternal complaint, like we always used to cite this back in our early days with superhero work,' he added.
'People used to complain about westerns in the same way but they lasted for decades and decades and decades. They were continually reinvented and brought to new heights as they went on,' Anthony said.
Since Endgame, only 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home ($804.7 million domestic, $1.912 billion worldwide) could replicate the kind of success that the Russo Brothers enjoyed with their Avengers movies.
Films like 2021's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($224.5 million domestic, $432.2 million worldwide), 2022's Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness ($411.3 million domestic, $955.7 million worldwide) and 2023's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($358.9 million domestic, $845.5 million worldwide) still put up strong numbers.
But films like 2021's Eternals ($164.8 million domestic, $402 million worldwide), 2023's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ($214.5 million domestic, $476 million worldwide) and 2023's The Marvels ($84.5 million domestic, $201.6 million worldwide) showed how the MCU was slipping at the box office.
Joe Russo adds that it's not just Marvel who are having these problems, it's the Hollywood as a whole.
'I think it's a reflection of the current state of everything. It's difficult
