Director of Marvel's 'Avengers: Endgame' predicts A.I.-generated films are ‘two years’ away

Director responsible for multiple Marvel films, Joe Russo forecast a future where artificial intelligence will bring comic-book films to the screens.

Opining on the subject at a panel discussion with Epic Games CCO Donald Mustard hosted by Collider, Russo guessed that a film made completely by A.I. is just “two years” away.

“The value of it is the democratization of storytelling. That’s incredibly valuable. That means that anyone in this room could tell a story, or make a game at scale, with the help of a photoreal engine or an engine and A.I. tools,” Russo said. “That, I think, is what excites me about it most.”

While Russo had no response to what the consequences of A.I. may be for Hollywood, the director credited Gen Z for ‘ushering’ in the revolution.

“We’re in a world where the entire generation has a facile expertise in it, and is also not afraid of it,” Russo said.

Giving an elaborate example the longtime Marvel man said: “So potentially, what you could do with it is obviously use it to engineer storytelling and change storytelling. So you have a constantly evolving story, either in a game or in a movie, or a TV show. You could walk into your house and save the A.I. on your streaming platform. ‘Hey, I want a movie starring my photoreal avatar and Marilyn Monroe’s photoreal avatar. I want it to be a rom-com because I’ve had a rough day,’ and it renders a very competent story with dialogue that mimics your voice. It mimics your voice, and suddenly now you have a rom-com starring you that’s 90 minutes long. So you can curate your story specifically to you.”

Ironically the filmmaker emphasized that while he is receptive to the A.I. era, there is a ‘need’ for A.I. companies that can develop A.I. to ‘protect you from A.I.’  

Joseph Vincent Russo together with his brother Anthony Russo is behind manifold Marvel blockbusters including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.