In 2014, the Russos made Captain America: The Winter Soldier, a well-liked entry that placed the star-spangled hero in a story with the air of a ’70s conspiratorial thriller. From there they moved on to 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, which brought the title character into conflict with Iron Man and introduced the Black Panther. The directors’ skill for coordinating such an extensive cast got them tapped to make Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), a two-part mega-epic that was shot simultaneously and features just about anyone who has ever showed up in a Marvel film. I talked with the Russos about the way they planned the grand story arcs for the series, the pressure of managing so many performers, and whether large-scale “event” movies will define the theatrical experience going forward. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

David Sims: You joined Marvel for the first time with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. When you came aboard, how much of the broader story arc was already on the map?

Anthony Russo: We entered the universe right before The Avengers came out [in 2012]. So [the Marvel movies were] working well enough for the studio to want to make a second Captain America movie, but the environment we came into was Kevin Feige trying to keep things fresh and surprising. Marvel had conceived of perhaps doing a Captain America movie as a political thriller, but it was a tentative concept. Our big thing to figure out was, how do we modernize the character and toughen him up? He can’t possibly be the same human being he was in World War II as he is 70 years later, with none of his old friends around him.

Sims: This is ludicrous to say, because it’s a very big movie, but Winter Soldier was so much smaller than Endgame because you’re dealing with one character’s arc rather than 20. That early on, were you thinking about the four more movies you wanted to do with this character?

Joe Russo: No. You try to imbue the film with the richest storytelling that you can because, if you do that, there’s always somewhere to go. There’s some interesting corner you’ve painted yourself into that will provide dramatic propulsion moving forward. If that movie doesn’t work, you’re not making another one.

Sims: Did you immediately move on to Captain America: Civil War? Was that where the bigger arcs come in?

Joe: We were working on it almost overlapping with Winter Soldier.

Anthony: Marvel is very disciplined in its process. They did not invite us to do another Captain America movie until they had seen the edit for Winter Soldier.

Joe: And they also didn’t want us to take our focus away from that [first] movie. Feige is very good about doing one movie at a time. As soon as you hand the movie in, there’s a phone call, and literally while we’re working on press for Winter Soldier, we’re also dreaming up ideas for Civil War.