Just a quick browse through the Marvel fandom end of social media – or even a single glimpse at the view count for the first Avengers: Endgame trailer – and it becomes all too clear that the studio has succeeded in their job at getting filmgoers pumped about the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War sequel. But while building hype is one thing, delivering on the hype is a whole other challenge, and in a recent interview with Empire Magazine, co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo admitted that they don’t know if they can top their last success.
When the pair were asked how they plan to meet the expectations set by the phenomenally popular Infinity War, Joe replied, “With a lot of hard work,” before observing that Endgame’s pivotal placement in the MCU will be enough in itself to give the story some emotional heft.
“Whether we top Infinity War or not, I don’t know,” he continues. “But we try to tell the best story we can with these characters. This is bringing to a close the first decade of stories. I think that alone has a dramatic power to it.”
Presumably, the filmmaking pair don’t intend to let the inherent importance of Endgame do all the work for them in keeping viewers invested, but in typical Russo Brothers fashion, Joe remained tight-lipped about the developments in store, saying:
“We’ve sat on the title, we’ve sat on the trailer. The last thing we want to do is give any clues to story structure or tone.”
The team at Marvel Studios are in the slightly awkward position of having to hype up Endgame without actually saying much about the movie, with much of the cast seeming pretty ignorant themselves about the content of the film.
Nonetheless, Joe Russo has insisted in the past that the stakes for Avengers: Endgame will be much higher than they were for Infinity War, but we can judge for ourselves whether the movie really takes its action to the next level when the film hits theaters on April 26th, 2019.
