Entertainment

The 'Avengers: Endgame' Runtime Is Long AF & Marvel Fans Are Ecstatic

by Taylor Ferber

Part of the journey is the end. The end of 182 minutes, that is. Thanks to a super committed internet user over at ComicBook.com, it's been revealed that the Avengers: Endgame runtime is three hours and two minutes. To the average viewer, this may seem a tad long. But given that the epic, highly-anticipated Avengers finale is Marvel's longest film (and up there with some of the longest American movies of all time), MCU fans are pretty much feeling like it's Christmas in spring.

On Monday, ComicBook.com reported that the Avengers: Endgame landing page on AMC Theatre's website revealed (possibly accidentally) the film's lengthy runtime. Fandango then reported the news on Twitter after it was discovered by ComicBook.com, simply tweeting, "3 hours, 2 minutes. #AvengersEndgame." If true, Endgame will be the first MCU film to run over two-and-a-half hours (by comparison, last year's Avengers: Infinity War was 149 minutes). It's not the longest superhero movie ever, though. Marvel's rival, DC, released Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016, which has a whole minute on Endgame with a runtime of three hours and three minutes.

Fans have exactly one month to prepare for the ultimate showdown between Thanos and the Avengers when the final chapter premieres April 26. But it's not like MCU fans need to prepare. They were born ready for this.

In fact, why not go even bigger and make the film longer than three hours?

As is turns out, the powers that be at Marvel have known about this for a minute now. In March, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige teased the runtime to Collider, and he was awfully content with it. "We're gonna release the movie at the exact right running time," he said. "I'm telling you this, it's gonna be perfect. It's gonna be the exact running time that the movie needs to be." That's right. And, clearly, not a minute shorter.

In fact, rumors about Endgame's runtime have been circulating since February, when co-director Joe Russo spoke about it to Collider. "Right now, we think the movie is playing well and we've had great responses from our test audiences and we're feeling very good about where it is," he revealed. Russo further acknowledged the rumors and defended the studio. "We're still doing work to it. We're not done with it. Again, this is a culmination film of 22 movies, it's a lot of storytelling to work into it."

The buildup to Endgame goes back over a decade to the MCU's first movie release, Iron Man. Thus, closing out the saga means taking their sweet, sweet time. "Emotion is an intrinsic part of that to us," Russo further explained. "When you have to tell a really complicated story and you want strong emotional moments with the characters, it just requires a certain amount of real estate."

Subtlety is not one of MCU's strong suits, and it only makes sense for this era to go out with a three-hour bang. Fans: prepare yourselves. No liquids on April 26 or else.