The Russo Brothers To Part Ways With Marvel After Avengers 4?

By this stage in the game, Joe and Anthony Russo are well versed in the inner workings of Marvel’s cinematic universe.

After delivering a taut thriller with The Winter Solider, the Russo Brothers graduated to the big leagues with Captain America: Civil War, a star-studded ensemble movie that went on to collect an eye-watering $1.1 billion worldwide. Next up? Avengers: Infinity War.

Pegged to arrive in May of 2018, Infinity War is undoubtedly Joe and Anthony Russo’s biggest endeavor to date – it’s a film of “infinite proportions,” according to Marvel brass – and when you consider that both directors jumped straight back in to helm Avengers 4, one would imagine that the Russos will be taking a long overdue holiday come 2019. That’s something that Josh Brolin (Thanos) touched on during a recent interview with Collider – the same interview in which he drew attention to the Mad Titan’s mean streak.

Essentially, it looks as though Avengers 4 may signal Joe and Anthony Russo’s final contribution to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And can you really blame them for wanting to go out on the highest of highs? The Russo Brothers may be entrenched in the MCU and all of its branching storylines, but we’re more inclined to believe that Marvel will want to draft in some new blood by the time Phase 4 rolls around.

Here’s what Brolin had to share:

…Also, I think that they’re in a position very openly and raw-ly where they’re like, ‘We would never do this again. This is a one-time deal. To put this many successful actors together is such a pain in the ass, but it’s been worth it. We’re doing two movies. One back to back, and this is it for us. Then we’ll go off in another direction,’ but this is a very, very, very ambitious project that I think is going to pay off in a big way.

Beyond the launch of Thor: Ragnarok in November, Marvel has mapped out plans for a one-two punch the likes of which we’ve never seen before. Infinity War will land the first glove on May 4th, 2018, before the so-far untitled Avengers 4 brings the curtain down on May 3rd, 2019.