Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo revealed why the Marvel Cinematic Universe incorporates so much humor into its films.
Russo, who directed Captain America: The Winter Solider, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame along with his brother, Anthony Russo, sat down with Deadline at the Sands International Film Festival to discuss his impressive career. At one point in the interview, he was asked what Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige specifically saw in the Russo brothers that made him think they could direct superhero films, given that their previous experience was mainly rooted in sitcoms. Russo’s response shed some light onto why the MCU is filled with so many iconically hilarious moments.
“Well, Marvel’s secret sauce is that Kevin likes the films to be entertaining, right? And entertaining typically involves humor, and I think that Kevin’s very big on testing movies and I think he likes to sit in the test screening and hear the response,” Russo explained. “So the audience’s laughing, you can hear their response. You can understand, ‘Okay, every 2 minutes [they] are getting some enjoyment out of the movie,’ and that’s a strong way for him to gauge how the movie will perform with an audience, right? So I think humor is very important to him.”
Russo then went on to share that it was actually the brothers’ work on the sitcom Community, which is known for switching genres episode to episode, that made Feige recognize their potential. “Kevin saw a combination of an appreciation for action…but also the humor and that warmth,” Russo said. “Community in a lot of ways had a very similar tone to Marvel movies — slightly more complex at a humor standpoint, but very similar in tone, and I think he saw that and appreciated it.”
The wildly successful MCU is a shared universe comprised of many superhero films and television series, produced by Marvel Studios and based on characters from comic series published by Marvel Comics. Divided into “phases,” the MCU is currently in its Phase Four, which is expected to end sometime in 2023. The current phase introduced television shows into the cinematic universe with the launch of Disney+’s WandaVision, which kick-started Phase Four after the theatrical release of Black Widow was pushed back three times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The MCU has made over $25 billion from its films alone, making it one of the highest-grossing film franchises of all time.
The MCU’s next film, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, is set to debut in theaters on May 6. The first two episodes of Moon Knight, the MCU’s latest television series, are available to stream now on Disney+, with the remaining four episodes to be released on a weekly basis.
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