Might The Avengers ever cross over on screen with The Defenders? "It's complicated", says Avengers: Infinity War's Anthony Russo.
NewsDirectors Joe and Anthony Russo are certainly being kept busy by Marvel Studios. The pair directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and are in the midst of locking down the final cut of Captain America: Civil War. After that? There's the small matter of a pair of Avengers: Infinity War movies to direct.
Anthony Russo was at Comic-Con Brazil over the weekend, and was chatting about Avengers: Infinity War, and the possibility of future crossovers. In particular, with a television take on The Defenders.
The Defenders feature the likes of Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, and Daredevil, all of whom are - or will be - living their screen lives out on TV shows for Netflix. But will The Defenders ever meet up with The Avengers?
"It’s complicated," Russo said. "When we start to serialise the telling of stories it’s difficult. You have to have a lot of control and focus on the course of history."
"The films are controlled by a group led by Kevin Feige, so they function as a unit," he added. "Other products, even if they are from Marvel, are controlled by others. Then there is the possibility of a crossover, but it’s more complicated. It is a smaller scale version of the problem that exists when remembering that Fox holds the rights to some of Marvel’s most popular characters, as does Sony and others. As storytellers, we only have control over what happens in Marvel movies, but everything is possible, Spider-Man became possible!"
It probably didn't help that there was division with Marvel earlier this year, that led to Kevin Feige not having to report to Ike Pulmutter anymore (more details on that here). Yet Pulmutter retains control over the television side of Marvel's output, whilst Feige oversees the movies. The impression we get is they don't swap particularly expensive Christmas cards.
We'll see how all of this pans out, of course. And we'll keep you posted...
