The Electric State, the newest movie directed by the Russo brothers, is receiving poor reviews from critics, continuing a disappointing Rotten Tomatoes streak for the directing duo. The Russo brothers’ best movies include Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. Clearly, the aforementioned movies are all part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, proving that the directors have struggled with their movies outside the mᴀssive superhero franchise. Their most recent film is The Electric State, which currently has a score of 19% on Rotten Tomatoes (via Rotten Tomatoes).
Reviews for The Electric State have been very negative, with Screen Rant’s own Alexander Harrison giving the movie a score of 4 out of 10. The story of The Electric State is set in an alternate version of the United States in the mid-1990s after a civil war is fought between humans and robots, and follows a young girl who searches for her missing brother with the help of a mysterious robot. The Electric State is based on an acclaimed novel and has an all-star cast, but has failed to impress critics.
The Electric State Continues The Russos’ Rotten Tomatoes Streak
The Russo Brothers’ Last Three Movies Have Been Rotten
Even though the Russo brothers have made some of the best movies in the MCU, they haven’t been able to impress critics with any of their films post-Avengers: Endgame. Since the release of the 2019 superhero epic, which served as the action-packed climax for Phase Three of the MCU, the Russo brothers have directed three movies: 2021’s Cherry, 2022’s The Gray Man, and most recently, 2025’s The Electric State. However, all three of these movies have received “Rotten” scores on Rotten Tomatoes.
Cherry has a score of 37% on Rotten Tomatoes, whereas The Gray Man has a score of 45%. Even though neither of these scores are impressive, The Electric State’s current score is significantly lower than both of these films. Since leaving the MCU, the Russo brothers have strived to make big-budget movies. In fact, The Electric State is the most expensive movie Netflix has ever produced. However, despite their mᴀssive scales, none of the Russo brothers’ recent movies have performed well critically.
The Russos’ Post-Endgame Work Is Surprising
The Russo Brothers Can’t Find Critical Acclaim Outside The MCU
The Russo brothers’ movies after their (temporary) MCU departure have been surprising and disappointing. Their four MCU movies earned them worldwide acclaim, and fans were excited to see what projects the directing duo would take on after leaving the superhero franchise. However, starting with Cherry, all the movies that the Russo brothers have directed after Avengers: Endgame have been disappointing.
The Electric State’s negative reviews are especially surprising, since it had the same writers as the Russo brothers’ Marvel movies.
It’s not like I ever viewed the Russo brothers as great auteurs or anything, but through their MCU movies, they proved that they were capable of impressing audiences with big-budget movies. However, they have not yet been able to replicate the success they found with their MCU films. The Electric State’s negative reviews are especially surprising, since it had the same writers as the Russo brothers’ Marvel movies. Therefore, The Electric State’s reception is not just a cause of its writing and story, and it is clear that the Russo brothers’ non-MCU films have just not resonated with audiences.
The Russo Brothers’ Streaming Movies’ RT Scores Compared To The MCU & Other Movies
The Russo Brothers Non-MCU Movies Have Low Rotten Tomatoes Scores
The Russo brothers’ decision to focus on making movies for streaming services also likely hasn’t helped them improve their ratings. After all, making a movie for a streaming service is much different than making one for a traditional studio. This is the case simply because streaming services haven’t been funding and producing movies for as long as a lot of Hollywood studios. Therefore, there’s often a lower quality bar for movies that are going to premiere directly on streaming services.
|
Every Russo Brothers Movie |
RT Critics Score |
|---|---|
|
Welcome to Collinwood (2002) |
55% |
|
You, Me and Dupree (2006) |
20% |
|
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) |
90% |
|
Captain America: Civil War (2016) |
90% |
|
Avengers: Infinity War (2018) |
85% |
|
Avengers: Endgame (2019) |
94% |
|
Cherry (2021) |
37% |
|
The Gray Man (2022) |
45% |
|
The Electric State (2025) |
19% |
As seen in the above table, the Rotten Tomatoes scores for the Russo brothers’ MCU films are all in the 80s or 90s, while their movies outside the superhero franchise have much lower scores. Based on these scores, their career average on Rotten Tomatoes is 59%. The Russo brothers’ MCU movie average is an impressive 89.75%, while their non-MCU movie average is an underwhelming 35.2%. These statistics prove that the Russo brothers greatly struggle at making movies outside the MCU.
The Russos Have Had More Success Producing Outside The MCU
The Russo Brothers Produced Everything Everywhere All At Once
While the Russo brothers’ recent movies have not been critically acclaimed, they have found success with some of their endeavors. In particular, Joe and Anthony Russo have had much more success producing movies outside the MCU. For example, they produced the Chris Hemsworth-led action movies Extraction and Extraction 2, which have 67% and 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively. Extraction’s 67% isn’t necessarily high, but it is still considered “Fresh” on the review aggregator, and is much better than the Russo brothers’ other recent movies.
In addition to the Extraction films, the Russo brothers also produced the Best Picture-winning 2022 movie Everything Everywhere All at Once. This movie received worldwide acclaim upon its release, and currently has a score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. In total, Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven Oscars at the 2023 Academy Awards. Therefore, while they have struggled with their recent directing efforts, it is clear that the Russo brothers are capable of making projects that can generate positive reviews.
The Russos’ Post-MCU Work Doesn’t Diminish Excitement For Avengers 5 & 6
Anticipation Is High For Avengers 5 & 6
For a long time, it seemed like the Russo brothers would stay away from the MCU after Avengers: Endgame. However, in 2024, it was announced that they would return to direct the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Their recent movies receiving negative reviews is perhaps the reason why the Russo brothers decided to return to the MCU. A lot of recent Marvel projects also haven’t been received well, so it seems like the Russo brothers and the MCU may need each other at this point in time.
Avengers: Doomsday is currently scheduled to be released on May 1, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7, 2027.
Even though their recent movies have been disappointing, their previous work in the MCU proves that there is still reason to be very excited about the upcoming Avengers movies. All their MCU movies are fantastic, and the plot points of Doomsday and Secret Wars could potentially top the highs the Russo brothers already delivered in Infinity War and Endgame. Therefore, even though The Electric State is disappointing, the Russo brothers definitely know how to make a great Avengers movie, and I am very excited to see their upcoming work in the MCU.
Sources: Rotten Tomatoes (Joe Russo, Anthony Russo)
