We’re still six months away from Avengers: Doomsday opening in theaters and excitement for the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe film is only rising. While we already know quite a few things about the film—including the returns of several beloved characters, there are a lot of unknowns as well. It’s these tantalizing mysteries that, in part, are driving the excitement but even as we learn more about the film (and with a trailer hopefully coming soon) fans don’t have to worry about being surprised by the film. Filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo are promising plenty of surprises to come.
Speaking with CBR, Joe Russo explained that Avengers: Doomsday will have “a lot of surprises” but it will also be an emotionally complex film. It’s a careful balance that he says makes it the MCU’s most mature film.
“[Doomsday and Secret Wars have] obviously been harder than the other ones, for that reason. The stakes keep going up,” Russo said. “But emotional complexity is always the answer. You bring emotional complexity to anything, and it enriches it. It makes it a fuller experience for the audiences. It surprises you. There are a lot of surprises in this. And I think [Doomsday is] the most emotionally complex of all of them. And in a lot of ways, the most mature of all of them.”
Avengers: Doomsday Might Need More Than Emotional Complexity to Top Endgame for Fans
In his assessment of the importance of emotional complexity in a film, Russo isn’t wrong. Any good story needs layers and emotional elements to help the audience buy in and want to go on the journey with the characters. However, when it comes to the MCU, the reality is that it will take more than that to win fans over. The Russos’ two previous films, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were huge moments for the MCU and have set the standard for fans. Part of the reason for that comes from those films being the culmination of a lot of emotional complexity over a great number of movies and stories all leading to a massive collision with a villain that had been teased for years along the way. Thanos had his groundwork laid for him at various points in the MCU before he became A Problem in Infinity War. That alone gave fans a buy-in.
When it comes to Doctor Doom as a central villain, the MCU hasn’t really established that. While we got a brief tease of him in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, it’s not quite the same. On top of that, the Multiverse hasn’t really been fully explored and utilized to an extent that the audience’s emotional connection to it would have significant weight. When you add those elements together and then toss in that we’re getting a major, high stakes adventure dropping seemingly out of near nowhere with Avengers: Doomsday, you run the risk of having a story that feels haphazardly put together without real support, even if they do their best to make things “emotionally complex.” Sometimes, complexity comes from the crafting of the setup, not what you over the course of a few hours.
None of this is to say that Avengers: Doomsday won’t be successful or even anything other than a good movie. It’s just that there are plenty of hurdles for it to overcome that require a bit more—but if anyone can pull it off, it will be the MCU.
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