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Avengers: Doomsday is pretty darn great — if Joe Russo does say so himself.

In a new interview with CBR, Russo — who directed the film alongside his brother, Anthony Russo — says the new film is more emotionally complex and mature than the previous entries, which included two of the highest-grossing films of all time (Infinity War and Endgame).

“There are a lot of surprises in this,” Russo said. “And I think [Doomsday is] the most emotionally complex of all of them. And in a lot of ways, the most mature of all of them.”

Russo added that the film, along with its sequel Secret Wars, has been tougher to pull off than the previous entries. “The stakes keep going up. But emotional complexity is always the answer. You bring emotional complexity to anything, and it enriches it. It makes it a fuller experience for the audience.”

In addition, star Robert Downey Jr., who plays the antagonist Doctor Doom in the film, teased that the film’s writers (Stephen McFeely and Michael Waldron, along with Marvel boss Kevin Feige overseeing the project) may have cracked Marvel’s post-Endgame slump.

“There’s something going on in Doomsday, and forward that is literally the only antidote to, ‘How do you not have these films be let down after an Infinity War and an Endgame?'” the actor said. “And boy, have we labored long and hard to bring that down … It’s about the way it’s been structured, and the other characters.”

The Russo brothers were recently at SXSW London, where they also talked about the upcoming Disney release.

Joe Russo said that they’re “back to phase zero” of the MCU with Doomsday and Robert Downey Jr. playing antagonist Dr. Doom: “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]. 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.”

Anthony Russo also praised the success of Backrooms and Obsession (the latter’s director, Curry Barker, is The Hollywood Reporter‘s cover story interview this week).

“I’m fascinated by Obsession,” he said. “[It’s] viciously funny, right? In a very dark way, made for less than a million dollars, and will be the highest return ever for a movie. That’s an explosively disruptive moment … [The state of the film business] is in a very, very complicated place, but I think that’s a good thing. I think it’s a good thing, because Gen Z are aging into becoming not only the dominant audience, but the dominant storytellers today.”

Avengers: Doomsday will be released in theaters Dec. 18.