After 'Avengers: Endgame', What Would It Take To Bring Anthony & Joe Russo Back To Marvel?

After tackling the back-to-back Marvel Studios sequels Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the directing duo of Anthony & Joe Russo felt like it was time to venture out on their own to produce films under their new AGBO Films production banner. But will they ever be enticed to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the future after leaving it with such a bang? There are two possibilities that might be enough to see Anthony and Joe Russo returning to Marvel Studios.

Anthony and Joe Russo aren't abandoning big studio blockbusters. As they explained to SyFy Wire:

"We love that level of filmmaking that Marvel afforded us. We love telling stories on that level, but we're also fed by smaller stories and more specific stories. So for us moving forward, it's moving back and forth between the two."

But since Avengers: Endgame was the biggest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and pretty much as big as any blockbuster can get, is there anything that Anthony & Joe Russo feel compelled to get their hands on from the pages of Marvel Comics? Joe Russo said:

"I grew on up [John] Byrne's X-Men run. Ben Grimm was a favorite character growing up, the Thing. And Fantastic Four is now in the Marvel fold. There's a lot. Silver Surfer is an amazing character. Going really big in cosmic would be a lot of fun. So there's a lot of things that could attract us."

X-Men and Fantastic Four are now under the control of Marvel Studios after The Walt Disney Company purchased 20th Century Fox's Marvel Comics properties. That means the characters will soon be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though it remains to be seen how and when the superheroes will enter the fray. But by the time they do, it could be the perfect opportunity for Anthony & Joe Russo to get behind the camera for Marvel again.

However, if Anthony & Joe Russo do come back to Marvel, it sounds like they might want to oversee a major story arc. After all, they had a clear path through the four Marvel movies they directed, and they'd like to tackle something on that scale again. Joe Russo added:

"I think after you go on the journey that we went on –—because there is a comprehensive narrative, an overarching story from Winter Soldier all the way to the end of Endgame that involves Tony and Cap, through Civil War, through Infinity War — I think that scale of ambition in storytelling is a bug that's bit us. And we're compelled to tell more stories on that scale, with that sort of years-long ambition to them."

Perhaps Anthony & Joe Russo could oversee a story arc involving the arrival of Galactus in the MCU. The character is a a god-like figure who feeds by draining living planets of their energy and operates without regard to the morality and judgments of mortal beings. He's even more powerful than Thanos, and his presence would be something that has a major impact on the entire MCU.

Though we don't know when Anthony & Joe Russo might return to the MCU, the duo is confident it won't be very long before they reunited with Marvel Studios. Joe Russo ended with this:

"Working with Kevin [Feige] and Louis D'Esposito and Victoria Alonzo has been the most rewarding collaboration we've had in our entire career. They're like family to us now. We're all very, very close to one another, and we miss each other. So I'm sure we'll find something that we can do together soon."