New reports suggest Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Anthony and Joe Russo are set to take over The Avengers franchise after Joss Whedon finishes The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Last night a report dropped a bomb on Marvel fans where it was announced that Robert Downey Jr. was in final negotiations to star alongside Chris Evans in Captain America 3.

What was originally going to be a cameo has now turned into a reported 30-40 day shoot for Downey Jr., and a $40 million dollar paycheck (not including bonuses). What’s even more interesting is that Badass Digest is now reporting the Russo brothers are planning on directing The Avengers 3 and 4.

For those unfamiliar with the directing duo, they turned Captain America: The Winter Soldier into a massive hit. Whereas Captain America: The First Avenger made $370 million worldwide, Captain America 2 made an impressive $714 million.

To say Marvel was pleased with their work is an understatement. They took one of the less popular characters, to the general public at least, and turned him into a bonafide superstar. Marvel announced they’d be back for Captain America 3 even before the second film hit theaters, further proving they have a lot of faith in the two directors.

Now with Robert Downey Jr. joining Captain America 3, it’s guaranteed to be a success, but it seems that the Russos may be taking over Marvel’s cinematic universe after Joss Whedon finishes up his work on The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

There’s no evidence of this other than from the current report/rumor (we lean towards rumor), but the hints are there, and we imagine Joss Whedon may be looking for someone to take over for him. If this were to occur, we imagine Joss will still play a huge role in Marvel’s films, as he’s their golden boy, but he may be looking to direct other Marvel films or something outside the comic world.

It’s hard to argue with the Russos taking over The Avengers’ future, as they did an incredible job with The Winter Soldier, but this would be a massive shift for Marvel to make. Joss Whedon has been hovering over nearly every project they’ve been working on, and it would be interesting to see what would happen if the Russo brothers did end up directing Avengers 3 and 4.

For now it’s still just a rumor, but it wouldn’t surprise us if Marvel have decided to plan ahead of the Whedon era, and we look forward to hearing some solid information from the studio or the directors themselves.

Let us know what you think about Anthony and Joe Russo directing The Avengers 3 and 4, and possibly the future of Marvel’s cinematic universe.