Avengers: Doomsday directors just called their movie "Phase: Zero," and that's a huge red flag

I don't buy it

Last year, when Kevin Feige was plugging the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, he insisted to The Hollywood Reporter that there was "no-homework-required" for this entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Given the standalone nature of the film, this turned out to be true, but there was still something desperate about Feige's quote, as though he was apologizing for Marvel's post-Endgame missteps by insisting this movie had nothing to do with those other, more lore-heavy films. Now, in a new interview for The Hollywood Reporter promoting Avengers: Doomsday, directors Joe and Anthony Russo have taken things a step further by not just apologizing for the past, but asking us to completely ignore it.

"That serial shifting and changing and surprising you and then reinventing itself and then shifting and changing and then surprising you — that’s exciting and I think you’re going to see some shifting and changing [with Doomsday]," Joe Russo said. "So, get ready for it. Look, we were with Rob [Downey Jr.] earlier today. We were both talking about this concept that we are back to phase zero. This is starting over from scratch. We want to make sure everybody feels like this isn’t leaning on anything from the past."

The idea that this film "isn’t leaning on anything from the past," is completely absurd. It reads as a desperate plea for those who have lost faith in the MCU to come back for this film. Particularly when it comes along with comments about Robert Downey Jr.'s return to the MCU as Doctor Doom, a choice that many fans remain skeptical about and that the Russos will have to sufficiently explain in the film, otherwise a great many people in the audience will wonder why Doctor Doom looks so much like Iron Man. Of course, the return of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers is another nostalgia play, and you could even argue the Russos themselves are.

Since the first Avengers back in 2012, these movies have been about culmination. That used to be exciting, and the excitement peaked with Avengers: Endgame. But since then, with so many missteps on both the big and small screen, culmination has seemed burdensome. The Russos know that, yet they're still making a movie that is not only a culmination of all the MCU films, but of Fox's X-Men films too.

For the MCU fans that still remain, they want that giant, epic, multiverse team-up, and as a fan of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, I still think there's a good chance we might get it. But the idea that this movie isn't built upon all the other films makes no sense and the claim can only serve to alienate those who are still interested. It certainly won't win back the skeptics, as they stopped listening years ago.

Instead of trying to trick people into seeing Avengers: Doomsday with convoluted word salad, the Russos just need to focus on delivering the best, most-rewarding, least-confusing film that they can. If it's good, people will see it — they may even win back some of those who have left. And if it sucks, then it really will be "Phase Zero."