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After 17 years , theMCUhas proven that its sprawling cosmic storey are better assist by prospicient rather than shorter movies . AfterAvengers : Endgameclocked in over three 60 minutes in theaters , the issue of the MCU ’s runtimes became a off-white of contention among movie house goers . Avid fans like myself are more than happy to ride through three hours of high - octane and inwardness - pull swashbuckling narratives as long as they shoot a line a certain level of quality . On the other hand , it is easy to see why more casual fans of the franchise might be perturbed by unprecedented run times .
wonder then flipped the script in 2024 by releasingthe forgetful MCU movieto date withThe Marvels . Unfortunately for the studio ( and fan who saw this as a turn decimal point for the franchise ) , this film becamethe MCU ’s biggest flop . While there are severalreasonsThe Marvelsfailed , I do think this unique feature of the flick verbalize to a orotund circumstance for Marvel to meditate over when it add up to cutting moving-picture show down , and past experience should give boost to an epiphany forwards of vast upcoming task .
Most Of The MCU’s Most Popular Movies Are Longer
Every Avengers Movie Is In The Top Ten
The best movies in the MCUboast manysimilar qualities , but one of the more surprising is their longer running game times . retaliator : Endgame , for instance , is the prospicient film in the MCU and the music genre as a whole , the four - hour yet unreleasedZack Snyder ’s Justice Leaguenotwithstanding . It is alsothe MCU ’s highest - grossing movie , bagging $ 2.7 billion for Marvel Studios , and one of its highest - rated . The correlational statistics between popularity and length extends beyond this one illustration , however .
MCU Movies With The Longest Run Times
Movie
Run Time
Worldwide Box Office ( viaTheNumbers )
avenger : Endgame
3 60 minutes 1 arcminute
$ 2.7 billion
Black Panther : Wakanda Forever
2 hours 41 proceedings
$ 860 million
Eternals
Custom image by Ollie Bradley
2 hour 36 transactions
$ 400 million
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol . 3
2 60 minutes 29 minute of arc
$ 850 million
Avengers : Infinity War
$ 2 billion
Spider - Man : No Way family
2 hours 28 proceedings
$ 1.9 billion
Captain America : Civil War
2 hours 27 second
$ 1.2 billion
The Avengers
2 hour 23 minutes
$ 1.5 billion
avenger : Age of Ultron
2 hour 21 second
$ 1.4 billion
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol . 2
2 hr 17 bit
$ 870 million
In fact , each ofthe MCU ’s highest - grossing franchiseshas representatives on this list , including the Avengers , Black Panther , Spider - Man , and the Guardians of the Galaxy . The data shows that an drawn-out catamenia sitting in a film seat is not enough to turn over audience off see a truly compelling MCU movie , with worldwide fan eager to see the full narrative . This speaks to the notion that telling fib that traverse several comic book issues in the space of a unmarried moving picture deserves sufficient space to be told .
Interestingly , the opposite issue can be seen with the MCU ’s three shortest picture . In gild of duration , The Marvels , The Incredible Hulk , andThor : The Dark Worldwere not the intimately - received MCU movies , while the scant two are thelowest - grossing MCU film . This tracks with some of the criticism leveled at these movies pointing towards certain aspect being escape , such as references to the wider MCU inThe Incredible Hulk , or a unsuccessful person to flesh out Asgard inThor : The Dark World .
Thor : The Dark Worldgrossed a respectable $ 640 million at the worldwide box office .
Captain America : Brave New Worldhas added to this course . Clocking in at 1 hour 58 minute of arc , Captain America : Brave New Worldis the MCU ’s joint - 7th - light movie alongsideAnt - Man and the Waspand has proved peculiarly divisive . Critics were n’t exactly won over by the latest MCU movie , and its run sum at the global box office ( at the time of writing ) is $ 392 million , make it currently the MCU ’s fifth - lowest - grossing movie . Still , longer run fourth dimension do n’t make MCU movies unassailable .
Of MCU’s Longest 10 Movies, Only 1 Flopped
Eternals Was A Shaky Start To A New Saga
There is a glaring outlier in the list of Marvel Studios ' longest - running and widely acclaimed movies:2021’sEternals . In fact , Eternalsmarked a turn point for Marvel Studios ' Multiverse Saga as the new cast of characters fail to inspire as much enthusiasm as previously lesser - known figures like the Guardians of the Galaxy . Eternalsis currently the MCU ’s sixth - lowest - gross movie , and remain one of the worst - rat flick in the MCU .
The future of the Eternals go along to be uncertain , but the MCU made them and their movie elbow room too soft to forget . Here ’s what went wrong .
While I thinkEternalsis criminally underrated , it shows how one of the main criticism of the movie - the see-through number of character it attempted to public eye - was n’t remediate by a longer run sentence . In fact , its length might have help to contribute to criticisms , as its attempts to give enough silver screen time to each Eternal and deliver exposition on their millennium - cross account felt like more of a slog . With that being said , Eternalswas a specially ambitious projection and an exception to an emerging rule that MCU moving picture generally need bigger run times to thrive .
The MCU Needs Longer Movies To Make Full Sense
Covering So Many Comics Needs Longer Run Times
One of the key challenges for Marvel Studios is effectively communicate the lore and details of big - than - living characters who tout decade of comic record history in the distance of just one movie . This is a fine line to trample , butshortening scarper sentence to make their cinematic outing more bite - size feel both needless and inexpedient . The cunning use of clip jump inAvengers : Endgamedidn’t hamper the storytelling at all , and it still deserve every minute of its more than three hour of storytelling to in effect make for the Infinity Saga to a close .
It ’s no wonder that each of the Avengers movies so far boasts the longest outpouring times .
Despite missing the mark , Eternalstook the right coming early on in the Multiverse Saga in its attempt to ease the comprehensiveness of its ensemble plaster bandage . It is peculiarly rare for an MCU movie to highlight just one character these days , andThe Marvelshelped to demonstrate that a short run time made it difficult to manage about new characters like Monica Rambeauwhen she was essentially shoehorn into the mix with minimal character development inWandaVision . The same can be sound out for Kamala Khan when it number to MCU moviegoers who skitter out on watching Disney+ shows .
2025 will bring in many exciting characters to the MCU , some of whom could become the most important lineament in the franchise ’s history .
It ’s no marvel that each of the Avengers movies so far boasts the long run times . Not only do they capably spotlight each of their main stars , but they take the metre to secure the interconnectedness of the MCU underlying in their premise . The Multiverse Saga is suffering by failing to tie its composite parts together , andreleasing a movie with longer run times ( asSpider - Man : No Way Homedemonstrated ) is necessary to ensure it can capture the breadth of the wide MCU narrative .
Avengers: Doomsday & Avengers: Secret Wars Deserve Longer Runtimes
They Have A Lot To Cover
This is whyAvengers : DoomsdayandAvengers : Secret Warsneed run for times to rival their forerunner . As aforementioned , a deficiency of light throughline as typically telegraphed through Avengers movies hashampered the Multiverse Sagaand put hearty press on these two movies to pick up the mire at the tail - end of the saga . The penury to makeAvengers : DoomsdayandAvengers : Secret Warsas farsighted or even longer than the Avengers movies of the Infinity Sagais further strengthen by the wider context .
To put it mildly , theMCU ’s Multiverse Saga is huge . A length nearing three hours feel necessary if Marvel hopes to tolerably highlight the many , many eccentric it has bring in since the Infinity Saga . alas , this is no mean feat , asEternalshelped to testify that a longer run time is n’t all it hire to raise a pop flick that features a large ensemble cast .
Upcoming MCU Movies
Source : TheNumbers
