Christopher Markus Explains Why He Is Not Part Of The 'Avengers: Doomsday' Or 'Secret Wars' Movies [Exclusive]
The science fiction adventure comedy, “,” premieres March 14, 2025, on and stars and . Set in the aftermath of a robot uprising in an alternate version of the ’90s, the film follows an orphaned teenager (Brown) who ventures across the American West with a cartoon-inspired robot, a smuggler (Pratt), and his sidekick in search of her younger brother.
The creative team behind the film is a foursome you might know, directors Joe and Anthony Russo and screenwriters and the quartet behind the second-highest-grossing film of all time, “,” the sixth highest-grossing film of all time, “Avengers: Infinity War,” and two other of Marvel studios most popular films, “” and “.”
The group is also behind the production company, AGBO, which produced “,” “,” the “” franchise and more.
And while the Russos and M&M—as they are sometimes affectionately known—essentially left Marvel to chart their own company and creative path, as we all know, last year it was announced that they were all coming back to write and direct “” (due summer 2026) and “Avengers: Secret Wars” (due summer 2027).
But in the fine print of it all, it was revealed that only Stephen McFeely was returning to write the pair of ‘Avengers’ films and Christopher Markus was not. Fans wanted to know why the full force of the dream team wasn’t returning for the next major Marvel dramas, and well, we spoke to Markus about “The Electric State” for The Playlist’s The Discourse podcast and found the answers.
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The reasoning? Opportunity, choice, taste and to a lesser degree creative obligations. Though let’s not make too much of the latter, it’s all his personal decision.
“Magic! It’s the simple fact of opportunity really,” Markus said, beginning to explain his decision and intentions. “When we started AGBO, part of the imperative was let’s look for things to adapt, ideas of our own. And by luck or preference, I wound up with a whiteboard full of things—two series of books that we had optioned, a spec script. about three or four other ideas and a TV pilot that was there to be written. And this was prior to all that ‘Avenging’ coming on the horizon.”
“But it got to the point where it was like, ‘Look, I need to grow these plants or they’re going to die,’ And [Marvel] is very extremely full-time,” he explained. “And so, I just said, ‘Let’s just everybody be under the understanding that this is what I’m doing because [those movies] need a brain on them. They need a guide and I love them.’ So, when it came Avenging time—I mean, you don’t Avenge part-time, you don’t do anything Marvel part-time. That is a years-long commitment.”
So, not even unofficial consulting on the films or checking up on what’s cooking in the lab from time to time we asked? Nope.
“I’m not doing anything [with Marvel] right now because, one, they know what they’re doing,” he clarified. “And also, it was just like, ‘Well, these things will die and I’ve got a pilot at Netflix, a pilot at Amazon. I’ve got nine books that need to be turned into a masterpiece and you just make a choice at some point and say, ‘I’ve done that. I haven’t done that. I think right now I’m going to do the thing I haven’t done.’ Which is the thing that keeps you alive and sparking as a creator.”
Many fans believe the Russos and M&M are the secret ingredient that Marvel has been missing throughout Phase 4, the connective glue that held it all together. While some fans have complained about Phase 4, Markus’ take is that Marvel has had to expand and do something different.
“After we left, in a way, I think Marvel has become, not positively or negatively, more like the comics,” he said. “During our time there, it was more of a straight-line narrative. I mean, you had a million other things going on, but when you look at the comics, those things are in the same universe, but it is a diffuse, non-linear, organic expansion of the story. And I think that what’s been happening at Marvel is that it has just been kind of growing outward and that’s not bad or good.”
“And in some ways, it’s kind of what you need in order to have new things,” he continued. “In order to hopefully bring things together again, you need to let them grow up.
Markus even admitted that not even hearing about the threesome’s plan to bring back Robert Downey as Doctor Doom could make him change his mind.
“No, I was like, ‘That’s very clever, but that’s a lot of work,’” he explained. “I got nothing against work, but that’s also work I’ve done. Not necessarily with Doctor Doom, but you know, you can’t have all.”
“There’s only so much time in the day and you got to go, ‘What am I going to bring the most magic or electricity or specialness to? What am I going to be doing that somebody else couldn’t do?’” he continued. “As opposed to, ‘What am I going to do that another person could do? And the things I’m working on feel like in order to get them done right, I’m the one who has to do them.”
“And in order to get [‘The Avengers’ movies] right, I do believe those three guys will do just fine. So I was like, ‘Well, I love that. It’s fun. I love them. But if you really want to get the best out of me, I think I ought to be over here.’”
More from “The Electric State” and this full interview next week. –Additional reporting by Mike DeAngelo.
