Joe and Anthony Russo talk Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo were both present at this year's D23 convention, and took time out to describe what drew them to Captain America: The Winter Soldier .

"Ed Brubaker’s run is one of my favorite books ever in comics," begins Joe. "I think it’s amazing. I thought the way he brought that character back, the sort of post-modern dent that he put on it was genius."

"And then the other big thing that really drew us to the project was Marvel’s desire to take Captain America and merge him with a ’70s political thriller," continues the director.

"It gave the storytelling a real bite, a real texture… you can find some real overt political tones that you can play with that really resonate to an audience."

Brother Anthony then goes on to describe the benefits of having a villain that was formerly the hero's best friend…

"The thing about Captain America is he’s such a strong character," says Anthony. "He's so morally grounded, he’s a hard character to crack, because he’s so stalwart."

"So to have a villain who is his former best friend, it’s such a complicated, difficult relationship for him to be in, that’s one way you get to a character that’s as tough as Cap."

Co-starring Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan and Anthony Mackie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier will open in the UK on 4 April 2014.

George Wales

George was once GamesRadar's resident movie news person, based out of London. He understands that all men must die, but he'd rather not think about it. But now he's working at Stylist Magazine.