Russo Brothers Defend Shooting Avengers: Doomsday With No Script

Avengers: Doomsday has Robert Downey Jr. returning to Marvel, the Russo brothers back in the director’s chairs, and a major crossover with characters from the X-Men movies. That combination should make the film one of the biggest action releases of 2026. It also comes with one major concern. The movie began filming without a finished script. Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to reach theaters on December 18, 2026. Downey will play Doctor Doom, not Iron Man, while Anthony and Joe Russo direct the film. The movie was rebuilt after Marvel dropped Jonathan Majors and changed the project from Avengers: The Kang Dynasty into Doomsday. The script problem first became public during production. Rebecca Romijn, who returns as Mystique, said at San Diego Comic-Con in 2025 that the Russo brothers had not finished writing the screenplay. She even said she wasn’t sure whether she had completed her scenes. That comment sounded hard to believe at the time, but the directors have now confirmed it. Speaking with the Associated Press, Joe Russo said the movie began filming without a completed script. He defended the choice by saying the brothers view a screenplay as a “living organism.” Russo explained...