The Russo Brothers Reveal the Surprising Movie That Inspired ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

Superhero blockbusters and dusty gunslinger sagas might seem like they belong to entirely different corners of cinema, but Joe and Anthony Russo have never been shy about pulling from unexpected places when shaping their biggest Marvel projects. The duo behind ‘Captain America: Civil War,’ ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ and ‘Avengers: Endgame’ have built their reputation partly on blending massive scale with genuinely intimate character moments, a balance that doesn’t come naturally to every director tackling a franchise this size.

That instinct traces back further than their Marvel work, all the way to their formative years as filmmakers steeped in a wide range of cinema. Speaking with AP News, the brothers revealed exactly where they’ve been drawing inspiration for ‘Avengers: Doomsday,’ pointing to a genre that’s shaped their creative sensibilities since childhood.

According to the Russos, Sergio Leone’s ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ served as a particular inspiration for ‘Doomsday.’ Anthony explained that he and Joe grew up as fans of all types of cinema, but Westerns have always held a special place for them, noting that even though the genre has repeatedly been declared dead throughout film history, it keeps producing some of the greatest examples of moviemaking.

Leone’s 1968 epic, starring Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, and Claudia Cardinale, is widely regarded as one of the defining Westerns ever made, praised for its sprawling scope paired with slow-building, deeply personal tension between its characters. That combination of grand scale and quiet, character-driven intensity is exactly the template the Russos say guides their approach to filmmaking whenever a project calls for it.

Applying that sensibility to ‘Doomsday’ makes sense given the sheer size of the film’s ensemble, which pulls together the core Avengers lineup, the Fantastic Four, the Thunderbolts, and legacy X-Men characters making their official MCU debut. Managing a cast that massive while still finding room for genuine emotional beats is precisely the kind of balancing act Leone mastered decades earlier with a much smaller cast operating across a sprawling frontier landscape.

The Western influence also ties into a broader philosophy the Russos have expressed about not leaning too heavily on nostalgia for ‘Doomsday.’ Anthony has said the brothers never want to coast on capital that already exists, insisting instead that the greatest value of the film should come from the new material it brings to the table rather than simply reassembling familiar faces for the sake of spectacle.

That mindset lines up with how the Russos describe Westerns surviving repeated declarations of the genre’s death, only to keep producing masterpieces when filmmakers approach the form with genuine ambition rather than formula. Applying that same logic to superhero cinema, a genre that’s faced its own fatigue narrative in recent years, suggests the Russos see ‘Doomsday’ as an opportunity to prove the format still has real creative life left in it.

With ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ set for its December 18 release, the Russos’ Western influences add an intriguing layer to how they’re approaching the film’s structure and tone beneath all the multiversal spectacle.

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