Marvel reportedly spent big to bring back Robert Downey Jr. and the Russo brothers

Variety reports that Marvel is spending $80 million to lure the Russos back to direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, the two films that will bring the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s ongoing Multiverse Saga to a close. Both films are also set to be produced by the Russos’ AGBO outfit rather than Marvel’s typical in-house production team, and will reportedly begin shooting in London rather than Atlanta, where Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame both filmed.

Marvel is also said to be spending “significantly more” on Downey’s payday to see him re-join the MCU as Doctor Doom rather than Iron Man — a twist that has some comics precedent, but also seems to be an emergency pivot in response to Marvel’s now-scrapped plans to go all-in on Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror. 

RDJ, whose performance as Tony Stark kicked off the MCU, has commanded sizable Marvel salaries in the past that spoke to the studio’s commitment to building the cinematic franchise around him. That approach paid off for Marvel in the MCU’s early days as the Infinity Saga films reliably broke box office records. But it’s also part of how the studio has wound up in its current era of projects that feel devoid of properly-cultivated gravitational centers.