Avengers: Endgame director says Marvel doesn't actually have a plan for the MCU

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"A lot of the stuff was made up in between the movies"

Thanos in Avengers: Endgame
(Image credit: Disney / Marvel)

Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo has claimed that there has never been a set plan for the MCU. 

"The way it works at Marvel, and I'm sure at some point somebody will talk in detail about this, but part of [Marvel Studios president] Kevin [Feige]'s brilliance is that there isn’t really a plan," Russo told Deadline at the Sands International Film Festival of St. Andrews in Scotland. 

"There's an idea, but you can't have a plan if the movie you’re making tanks. There’s no plan after that. Right? So, it's really about, as the movie succeeded, there was sort of an enthusiasm about well, what else could we do? And then that's when new ideas would come out, And there was hopes. Oh, we hope one day that we can get to the story, if we keep doing this right maybe we could all get there, you know, like Infinity War and Endgame. But a lot of the stuff was made up in between the movies. And some of the best call forwards or callbacks were thought of after the fact."

One example Russo cites is the decision to make Bucky Barnes responsible for the deaths of Tony Stark's parents – he says this was only "happenstance". However, it's  a major plot point in Captain America: Civil War, driving a wedge between the Avengers.

Next up for Marvel on the big screen is Doctor Strange 2, which arrives in theaters on May 4 in the UK and May 6 in the US. In the meantime, make sure you're up to date with the MCU with our complete guide to Marvel Phase 4. 

Emily Garbutt
Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.