'Captain America: Civil War' Directors Reportedly Replacing Joss Whedon For 'Avengers: Infinity War'

It looks like the Russo brothers are going to solidify themselves as the definitive directing team behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). New reports indicate that the duo will be in charge of the studio’s Phase 3 climax “Avengers: Infinity War.”

It was revealed in October that Marvel would cap off its third phase of standalone movies to follow “Avengers: Age of Ultron” with two movies titled “Avengers: Infinity War, Part 1” in 2018 and “Avengers: Infinity War, Part 2” in 2019. While “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon helmed the first two “Avengers” movies, The Hollywood Reporter claims the Russo Brothers are stepping in to finish up Marvel’s plans.

The directorial team is a wise and time-tested choice for Marvel. They directed the mega hit “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” in 2014 and plan to capture that lightening in a bottle once again with “Captain America: Civil War” in 2016. Their upcoming movie is perhaps the greatest test for any potential “Avengers” director there is. “Civil War” will pit heroes Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans) against each other. Still, similar to its comic book storyline, two heroes with such powerful allies don’t remain in a one-on-one fight for long before factions start to form.

Previously, it was reported that a lot of the MCU’s more secondary characters like War Machine (Don Cheadle) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie) will appear in the film as well, making it a kind of mini “Avengers” flick. If the news about the Russo brothers directing “Infinity War” is true, it will give them four movies in the MCU under their belt. This would be more than the current record holders, Joss Whedon and Jon Favreau, with two.

The deal comes as a shock to some as the Russo’s looked like they were pretty much out of the Marvel game just a couple weeks ago. As Entertainment Weekly noted, they signed a three-year first-look deal with Sony. Many believed that if Sony was going to have claim to the Russo’s, they’d be out of Marvel completely, likely working on the new “Ghostbusters” movie starring Channing Tatum. Another option would be to stick them with the 2017 “Spider-Man” reboot. Sony and Marvel recently cut a deal to allow the character into the MCU. However, this new news about “Infinity War” casts some doubt on the status of their partnership with Sony.

It’s worth mentioning that Marvel has yet to comment on this news, so the Russo brothers coming in to direct “Avengers: Infinity War” is not yet confirmed. However, it does seem to be the most likely conclusion.

The story for “Captain America: Civil War” will be set up in Marvel’s upcoming film “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” which hits theaters on May 1.