Anthony J. Russo (born February 3, 1970) and Joseph Vincent Russo (born July 18, 1971), collectively known as the Russo brothers ( ROO-soh), are American filmmakers. They are best known for directing four films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU): Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Captain America: Civil War (2016), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019). The pair are the third-highest-grossing directors of all time and their film Endgame grossed over $2.798 billion worldwide, briefly becoming the highest-grossing film of all time.
Prior to their Marvel work, the brothers directed and produced the comedy series Arrested Development (2003–2005), Community (2009–2014), and Happy Endings (2011–2012), winning a Primetime Emmy Award for Arrested Development. The brothers co-founded the independent film studio AGBO, which produced their Netflix directorial projects The Gray Man (2022) and The Electric State (2025). They also directed Cherry (2021), and have produced several films through AGBO, including Extraction (2020) and Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), the latter of which won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
The brothers are currently directing the next two installments of the Avengers franchise, Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).
Anthony J. Russo (born February 3, 1970) and Joseph Vincent Russo (born July 18, 1971) were born to Patricia Gallupoli and attorney and judge Basil Russo in Cleveland, Ohio. Both of their parents are of Italian descent, with families emigrating from Sicily and Abruzzo, respectively. After settling in Ohio, they raised Anthony, Joe, both of whom attended Benedictine High School.
After high school, Joe attended the University of Iowa, where he majored in English and writing and graduated in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in English. He became interested in acting after a professor encouraged him to write and perform a monologue for his class. Anthony attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he also majored to English.
The Russo brothers wrote, directed, and produced their first feature film, Pieces, which they self-financed via student loans and credit cards. In an interview with Deadline, Anthony Russo said, "We were both in Cleveland and Robert Rodriguez had just made El Mariachi, and that inspired us. We were film buffs growing up, and his experience inspired us to make our own credit card film."
Pieces debuted at the Slamdance Film Festival and caught the attention of director Steven Soderbergh, who described the film as "insanely ambitious and dense... I was just very activated by how activated they were and it was clear they were grinders." Soderbergh reached out to the Russo brothers and, over a lunch meeting, offered to produce their next feature, Welcome to Collinwood, a caper comedy starring William H. Macy, Isaiah Washington, and Sam Rockwell. The Russo brothers were part of the Directors' Fortnight lineup for the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, where Welcome to Collinwood was one of the few U.S. entries and closed the fest.
After their sophomore film, FX Networks executive Kevin Reilly hired the brothers to direct the pilot for the series Lucky, having liked the pair's work on Welcome to Collinwood. They were also hand-picked by director and producer Ron Howard to direct the pilot for Fox's Arrested Development. The Russos suggested and fought to cast Jason Bateman for the lead role of Michael Bluth, despite studio skepticism toward Bateman.
In an interview with /Film, producer Dan Harmon, who hired the Russos to direct the pilot of his TV series Community, praised the Russos' ability to spot talent and cast based on character regardless of status in the industry. He credits the Russo brothers with the idea to cast Donald Glover on the NBC sitcom, calling the brothers "geniuses in casting." The brothers directed 34 episodes of Community, including A Fistful of Paintballs" and "For a Few Paintballs More," which served as the season two finale and received critical acclaim. Alan Sepinwall of Uproxx described the Russo brothers' installment as "nothing short of The Godfather Part II of sitcom episodes".
Their success with Arrested Development and Community put the Russo brothers on the radar of Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who brought them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In 2014, the Russo brothers directed their first film for Marvel Studios, the action espionage thriller Captain America: The Winter Soldier starring Chris Evans as Captain America. The brothers were in the running against nine other directors to helm the film, which was the sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), directed by Joe Johnston.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Joe Russo explained that they were given the script and "fell in love" with the movie, creating storyboards, rewriting scenes, and presenting an animatic to Marvel to get the job. The brothers noted The French Connection, Black Friday, Three Days of the Condor and All the President's Men as their influences in tone and style. The movie was a box office success and received critical acclaim, with Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly praising its tackling of serious subject matter and comparing it favorably to The Dark Knight (2008). The film was a financial success earning $714 million worldwide.
The Russo brothers returned to the MCU with Captain America: Civil War (2016), the success of which got them hired on their highest profile projects to date: Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Infinity War would become the first superhero movie to gross over $2 billion at the box office. Endgame was the second superhero movie to surpass that same target, earning $2.799 billion in global box office. After breaking numerous box office records, the Russo brothers joined James Cameron as the only directors to make two films that each earned over $2 billion.
AGBO, criticisms, and return to Marvel
In 2017, the Russo brothers founded their production company, AGBO with producing partner Mike Larocca. The following year, the brothers' longtime Marvel film collaborators Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely joined AGBO as Co-Presidents of Story. The brothers made it a part of AGBO's mission to "support emerging talent and foster their creativity," saying they wanted to pay forward the kind of mentorship that Steven Soderbergh had given them by supporting the directorial efforts of emerging creative voices. Feature directorial debuts supported by AGBO and produced by the Russo brothers include Mosul (2019) by writer Matthew Michael Carnahan and Relic (2020) by director Natalie Erika James.
Another first-time filmmaker supported by the Russo brothers via AGBO was their long-time collaborator, Sam Hargrave, who directed Extraction (2020), starring Chris Hemsworth. Joe Russo adapted the film from Ciudad, a graphic novel he wrote with his brother and Ande Parks. Extraction went on to be the most-watched original film in Netflix's history. This film would spawn a sequel, Extraction 2 (2023), which Joe Russo also wrote. A third installment was announced in 2023, and is set to begin production in 2025. The Netflix series Mercenary: An Extraction Series began filming in Ireland and Morocco in December 2025.
In 2019, the Russo brothers reunited with Marvel alumnus Chadwick Boseman when they produced the action-thriller 21 Bridges. The brothers had approached Boseman about the film at the premiere of Infinity War. Around this time, the Russo brothers also executive produced AGBO's first documentary series, Larry Charles' Dangerous World of Comedy.
After the release of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the Russo brothers made a creative pivot to drama, directing the Apple TV+ film Cherry (2021), which was co-written by their sister, Angela Russo-Otstot. The film explores the opioid epidemic through the lens of a war veteran with PTSD played by Tom Holland. Anthony Russo said the film was personal for the brothers, as they have family members who have suffered and died from opioid addiction. The Russo brothers then turned their focus back to blockbuster action by directing the Netflix's The Gray Man (2022) starring Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas. Both Cherry and The Gray Man received negative reviews from critics.