After a bruising year, Marvel is returning to the very things that worked in the past. That means reuniting with franchise crown jewel Robert Downey Jr. as well as the Russo brothers, who directed the two most successful movies for the studio with “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.”
But bringing back key members of the old gang won’t come cheap. Sources say Marvel is plunking down $80 million for Anthony and Joe Russo to direct “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars” and “significantly more” for Downey to tackle uber-villain Doctor Doom in the two tentpoles. The Russos’ deal doesn’t include back-end compensation, but it does contain performance escalators that kick in at the $750 million and $1 billion thresholds. The brothers also will produce the two films via their AGBO banner. That marks something of a departure for Marvel, which typically doesn’t work with outside producers, preferring to keep the team in house.
For Downey, who helped catapult Marvel into a money-printing machine thanks to his turn as Tony Stark in the first “Iron Man” film in 2008, his deal also is filled with perks that include private jet travel, dedicated security and a whole “trailer encampment” for the newly minted Oscar winner. (Downey took home this year’s best supporting actor honors for his role in “Oppenheimer.”)
According to one knowledgeable source, Downey is by far the highest-paid member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has pulled down between $500 million and $600 million over the course of four “Avengers” movies, three “Iron Man” outings and cameos in “The Incredible Hulk,” “Captain America: Civil War” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
Still, some changes are in order. While the Russo brothers’ previous two “Avengers” movies shot in Atlanta, the new outings will be filmed in London beginning in the second quarter of 2025.
Although Marvel had become the most dominant brand in cinema over its first 30 films, it began to show cracks in 2023, with a ho-hum “Ant-Man” sequel that brought in just $476 million worldwide, coupled with a disastrous “The Marvels,” which barely cleared the $200 million mark globally. Adding to the angst on the Burbank lot, the entire future “Avengers” arc that centered on villain Kang had to be scrapped amid actor Jonathan Majors’ legal troubles. (Marvel parent company Disney cut ties with Majors hours after he was convicted of assault and harassment stemming from an altercation with his girlfriend at the time.) In short order, director Destin Daniel Cretton exited “Avengers: Kang Dynasty.”
Variety previously reported in a cover story on the studio’s woes that Marvel was considering pivoting from Kang to Doctor Doom as Majors’ problems mounted and that chief Kevin Feige was keen to bring back Downey, who will segue from his Broadway debut in Ayad Akhtar’s “mcneal” in the fall to preproduction on “Avengers” in the new year.
Sources say Downey, who is repped by WME, agreed to return to the MCU if the Russos, who are CAA clients, would be directing. “They were the only ones he would work with,” says a source familiar with the dealmaking.
After all, the brothers’ two “Avengers” movies earned a whopping $4.851 billion combined. As Marvel looks to regain its footing, a Downey/Russos reteaming is “a perfect combination of timing and everyone being on the same page,” says one executive close to the project.
