Avengers: Endgame directors the Russo Brothers have established themselves as some of the best filmmakers of superhero movies of the modern era. Ever since the critical smash that was Captain America: Winter Soldier, they’ve successfully told big stories that never lose sight of individual characters’ struggles within them.
Prior to its release, some had fears that Avengers: Infinity War would be too busy a movie, having to squeeze in pretty much every hero in the MCU and still make sense, so it’s a testament to their skills as directors that they managed it so well. With all that in mind, when they talk superheroes it’s good to listen, which is why their answer to which hero is hardest to translate to film is so interesting.
Anthony: The more powerful a character is, the more difficult to deal with that character on a narrative level. As storytellers, and the way we explore characters, we always look for vulnerabilities in characters because that’s where characters become interesting. They’re superficially interesting in their strength, but they get much more depth when you find where they don’t have that kind of strength. In general, the more powerful a character is, the more tricky that is.
To which the reviewer suggested Superman as an example, and the brothers said:
Anthony: Yeah, exactly.
Joe: He’s a very difficult character. You have to find an emotional flaw or weakness in the character in order to make them vulnerable.
Anthony: That’s why Vision fell in love.
It’s an interesting answer, especially with the cosmically powerful Captain Marvel soon to make her MCU debut in her solo movie, and then going on to appear in Avengers: Endgame. She’s said to be capable of moving planets, too, so I can’t wait to see what kind of flaw they give her in order to introduce a believable vulnerability.
I agree with them about all this though and I think this train of thought proves that they’re the right directors to bring the MCU to life. After all, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s initial plans for the Marvel Universe were superheroes with character flaws and vulnerabilities that readers could identify with: Ben Grimm is self-conscious about his appearance, Spider-Man is a broke, lovelorn teenager, the Hulk cannot control his anger, etc.
Finding these flaws and spinning stories out of them is very much the Marvel way of doing things, so I can’t wait to see how they tackle this in Avengers: Endgame.