Fans of Joss Whedon may still be reeling from the news that the Avengers: Age Of Ultron director will not return to helm the (apparently? maybe? probably?) final two features in the Avengers arm of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Marvel appears to be hard at work keeping other creative types in the fold for more superheroic action. Brothers Joe and Anthony Russo have already directed the second Captain America film, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and are next helming that film’s sequel, Captain America: Civil War. After that, the brothers will move into Whedon’s chair (maybe they should get them two chairs?) and direct the two-part Avengers finale, The Avengers: Infinity War, Part I and II. See? The MCU isn’t crumbling! And now it’s getting even stronger.
According to a story from Badass Digest, the Russos will be joined on their Avengers duties by some very familiar faces: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who will reportedly write both films.
Markus and McFeely have a long history with the MCU, as they previously wrote Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor: The Dark World (alongside Christopher Yost), in addition to penning both of the Russo-directed Captain America films. They are also billed as the creators of television’s Agent Carter, so yeah, these are some MCU heavy-hitters who really know their stuff—especially stuff that has to do with Captain America (interesting, right?).
As BAD notes, “what this means in the immediate run is that Captain America: Civil War is even more likely to set up a lot of the stuff that will pay off in Infinity War—after all, the same team is making all three films. While Thor: Ragnarok is supposedly taking the universe-shaking role that Winter Soldier had in Phase Two, I would expect Civil War to help redefine the landscape that will lead to Infinity War.”
Looks like Marvel is in the Markus and McFeely business, and if you are a fan of the MCU, you are now, too.