The Marvels Runtime Breaks The MCU’s Record (& That’s A Good Thing)

The Marvels has broken an MCU record already with its runtime – and it is probably a good sign. The upcoming Captain Marvel sequel will be the latest MCU movie to see various Avengers team up outside of a full Avengers movie, as Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan tussle with another MCU Kree renegade: Dar-Benn. If the movie’s runtime is anything to go by, this is a feat that won’t take very long.

The runtime was revealed in a now-removed listing on AMC Theatres (via IGN) as being 105 minutes. This places The Marvels at the top of the list of the MCU movies with the shortest runtime, which includes the following:

The Marvels (1 hour 45 minutes) The Incredible Hulk (1 hour 52 minutes) Thor: The Dark World (1 hour 52 minutes) Doctor Strange (1 hour 55 minutes) Thor (1 hour 55 minutes)

There aren’t many modern blockbusters – particularly MCU installments – that clock below 2 hours these days. The fact that the next MCU film does might even be a little concerning when considering that the company it keeps as one of the shortest MCU movies comprises a few of the worst-ranked MCU movies, but its runtime is by no means a signifier of its quality.

It can be hard to envisage an MCU movie that clocks so small a runtime, especially considering the franchise’s most iconic movies often edge toward the 3-hour mark. The shorter duration might suggest that the stakes of The Marvels are significantly more diminished than many previous movies. After all, Dar-Benn can’t be too threatening if The Marvels‘ main characters can deal with her in under two hours. This is far from a foregone conclusion, however, and may, in fact, indicate that The Marvels has streamlined its contents, rendering it more digestible when compared to more exposition-heavy epics like Avengers: Endgame.

The Marvels is only 10 minutes shorter than Doctor Strange, one of the better MCU movies, which, alongside the fact that messy productions notoriously plagued the other two shortest MCU movies, weakens the apparent correlation between short runtimes and poor quality. Despite having three characters share the leading role in The Marvels, no origin stories are needed, which means there will be no time lost rushing through how they came to acquire their powers. Instead, The Marvels seems poised to focus on the main event – which should be a refreshing experience in the current franchise climate.

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