The MCU's Longest Movie Is So Much Bigger Than Every Other Film In The Franchise

The longest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) holds the record by an impressive margin. While most superhero movies tend to be upwards of two hours, it’s rare for any film to go much longer than roughly 150 minutes.

There are a number of reasons for this, and why superhero movies run longer in general, largely relating back to the fantasy genre. While superheroes have established their own comic book movie genre, they are essentially fantasy stories, and it’s common for fantasy films to run long due to their world-building and high concepts.

However, when it comes to the MCU’s longest ever film, it is a considerable leap from the second film in the lineup.

Avengers: Endgame Is The MCU’s Longest Movie By A Fair Margin

Thor using lightning with Captain America and Iron Man in Avengers Endgame

Avengers: Endgame marked the end of the Infinity Saga, as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes overcame their greatest challenge yet, bringing back half of all life in the universe. The movie also serves as a direct sequel to Avengers: Infinity War, which sets the events in motion for Endgame.

Avengers: Infinity War clocked in with an impressive runtime of two hours and 29 minutes, but there is another movie which manages to be just 20 minutes shorter than Endgame; Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Wakanda Forever is two hours and 41 minutes in total. Which means that Endgame takes the lead by a very wide margin. Every other film in the lineup is either slightly shorter, though they are very few and far between, or roughly an hour shorter.

Why Avengers: Endgame Is So Much Longer Than Every Other MCU Movie

Chris Evans As Captain America Standing In Front Of The Gathering Avengers Army In Avengers Endgame

As the final entry in the Infinity Saga, it was important that Avengers: Endgame be given the space to fully explore its topic without being cut short. But there were also several practical reasons for the longer runtime. For instance, this was the MCU’s most ambitious project of all time, with dozens of heroes and characters returning throughout.

So, the film needed to give most of these heroes a voice, which means having a longer runtime as a result. And beyond that, there was a lot of ground to cover story wise. The movie picks up five years after Infinity War, which means showing how the world has changed in the wake of the tragedy.

With many moving parts, and a whole host of characters to dig into, it seems almost impossible to fit it all in. Which is why the movie was deserving of a longer runtime. Ultimately, it paid off for the MCU, resulting in their biggest box office hit of all time.