We’ve been excited about the potential return of the Russo Brothers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after giving us Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
There is now an update of sorts from the Wall Street Journal, as they point out the sibling directing team was indeed in talks with Marvel Studios to return to the MCU for a mystery film but talks apparently have stalled.
The reasoning is being linked to Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow lawsuit against Marvel/Disney, as the Russo Brothers are concerned by the issues raised by the actress including the potential release of the unnamed pic and if their contract for payment will ultimately be upheld by Disney.
This is the first real instance of fallout from the lawsuit since it was filed.
We don’t know what exactly that mystery film could be, but considering they’ve talked up a desire to tackle X-Men’s Wolverine and a hard-reboot is on the horizon. Marvel Studios could look to the Russo Brothers to help with the reboot as they did with seasoned MCU director Jon Watts for Fantastic Four. Watts being behind Marvel’s Spider-Man trilogy before landing the reboot.
However, this is simply my own speculation given the director’s comments in the past about being able to get their hands on mutants.
Here is what Joe Russo said about Wolverine back in February.
“Wolverine has always been such a special character for me. To realize him on screen, it’s very hard because Hugh Jackman‘s performance is definitive. It’s like Batman; you have to really think of a way to, you have to really find the right actor to come in and give a really different take to that character. But I would really love to see him on screen.”
I think the best thing is to take a break, without question. You need a [palate cleanser], you need to rinse the towel a little bit, let everyone enjoy what was, and then come up with something new. But I’d love to take a crack at Wolverine at some point.”
The Russo Brothers would be perfect to handle the scale and volume of characters as they’ve proven multiple times being able juggle a large roster of superheroes. Despite fans potentially wanting someone brand new to direct a reboot, Marvel might be more comfortable from their existing group of filmmakers given the importance of these MCU reboots.
Secret Wars is something they’ve also talked-up but we don’t have concrete information that is happening in the near future.
Another potential contender could be Anthony Mackie’s Captain America 4, given that doesn’t have a director attached. We had been hearing that the studio wanted a POC director for that one, but having Russo Brothers making a third Captain America movie wouldn’t be that shocking either.
SOURCE: THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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