“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” marks one of the longest Marvel movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but with a running time of 2 hours and 41 minutes it’s not quite the longest (although close). But with the long runtime, we got to thinking, what are the longest Marvel movies so far? Below, we’ve rounded up a list of just that.
Some of the shortest MCU films include “Thor: The Dark World” (2013) at under two hours and “The Incredible Hulk” with the same runtime of 1 hour and 52 minutes. Not far behind them are the first “Thor” (2011) film at 115 minutes long and the first “Doctor Strange” (2016) film at the same runtime.
Whether you’ve landed on this list out of caution, wanting to avoid settling in for upwards of two and a half hour films, or because you have nothing to do today (or its a rainy/snowy winter day), we’ve rounded up a list of the 10 longest Marvel movies below.
Just one quick caveat: these include Marvel Cinematic Universe movies only, so the “X-Men” films, “Blade,” etc. are ineligible.
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” – 2 hours and 16 minutes (136 minutes)
“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” ties “Guardians 2″ in its runtime. This bleak installment of Cap’s storyline watches his best friend Bucky (Sebastian Stan) turn against him after intense brainwashing, hypnosis and more that transforms him into a killing machine.
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” – 2 hours and 16 minutes (136 minutes)
Space was introduced to the MCU by Thor, but further elaborated upon with the Guardians of the Galaxy, which include sChris Pratt’s Peter Quill, Vin Diesel’s Groot, Bradley Cooper’s Rocket, Dave Bautista’s Drax and Zoe Saldaña’s Gamora. In the first installment of the ‘Guardians’ storyline, we meet the galactic team of misfits who make names for themselves across the planets. The sequel to “Guardians” came out in 2017, telling the story of Peter Quill more in-depth and introducing his father (played by Kurt Russell), and as such runs about 14 minutes longer than the first film.
“Avengers: Age of Ultron” – 2 hours and 21 minutes (141 minutes)
In Joss Whedon’s “Avengers” sequel, Tony Stark’s and Dr. Banner’s efforts to create an artificially intelligent being, Ultron, backfire when the A.I. gets a mind of his own and sets off to rule the world by eliminating the Avengers. This film does bring us Vision (Paul Bettany) and the eventual romance between him and Wanda Maximoff, who along with her twin brother Pietro, makes her first appearance in the MCU. But it’s not quite as long as the first “Avengers.”
“The Avengers” – 2 hours and 23 minutes (143 minutes)
The film that started it all, with the pivotal invasion of New York by Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, still lands at well over two hours. “The Avengers” sees Black Widow (Scarlet Johanssen), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and The Incredible Hulk aka Dr. Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) unite in what will become the heroic team of incredible individuals brought together by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to save the world from unimaginable threats.
“Captain America: Civil War” – 2 hours and 27 minutes (147 minutes)
Though many prefer to see the Avengers united against a common cause, sometimes they can’t help but get into it with each other. Split down the middle over an argument between Cap (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the Avengers fight each other in “Captain America: Civil War,” which also includes appearances from Tom Holland as Spider-Man, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff. This is the longest “Captain America” movie to date.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” – 2 hours and 28 minutes (148 minutes)
Tom Holland’s third go-around as the MCU’s Peter Parker did not disappoint, especially because the multiversal Spider-Men Andrew Garfield and Toby Maguire made almost completely under-wraps appearances in the film, forming the trifecta of Peter Parkers who unite to save New York and the broader world from their combined enemies in the third act. The host of villains breaking into Holland’s New York after Doctor Strange tried to help him out with a very powerful identity spell include Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin, Jamie Foxx’s Elektro, Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, Rhys Ifans’ Lizard and Thomas Haden Church’s Sandman. Of course we can’t forget Zendaya’s MJ, who remains an emotional center in this film. This is the longest “Spider-Man” movie made so far.
“Avengers: Infinity War” – 2 hours and 29 minutes (149 minutes)
Part one of the epic, MCU culmination of the “Infinity Saga” is fittingly epic in runtime. “Infinity War” lays a dismal and hopeless groundwork for the beloved Avengers. Thanos cruelly dismisses half the human population, along with many of the favorite comic-book characters with a snap of his fingers after he retrieves the final Infinity Stones to complete his gauntlet glove.
“Eternals” – 2 hours and 37 minutes (157 minutes)
Hooray for Chloe Zhao’s first foray into the MCU! For those who didn’t take to the emotional “Eternals,” at least it ranks high on this list in some quantitative way. All bitterness (of this writer, at least) aside, “Eternals” introduced the idea of near-immortal beings to the MCU in a grand way, as the ensemble cast of lesser known heroes protect the human race from Deviants (both created by the higher beings Celestials). The cast includes Angelina Jolie as Thena, Gemma Chan as Sersi, Richard Madden as Ikaris, Brian Tyree Henry as Phaestos, Barry Keoghan as Druig, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Laren Ridloff as Makkari, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo and Salma Hayek as Ajak. Kit Harington also stars as Dane Whitman, and Bill Skarsgård appears as Deviant Kro. Also look out for that Harry Styles post-credit scene.
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” – 2 hours and 41 minutes (161 minutes)
Clocking in at two hours and 41 minutes, the sequel bests its predecessor’s runtime of two hours and 14 minutes. Within the world of Wakanda, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira and Letitia Wright along with Angela Bassett return as their respective characters Nakia, Okoye, Shuri and Ramonda.
“Avengers: Endgame” – 3 hours and 2 minutes (181 minutes)
The conclusion to the long buildup of the Infinity Saga only feels fitting to list as the longest existing Marvel film ever made. Landing at a whopping three-plus hours, “Endgame,” which released in the summer of 2019, takes the cake, and for good reason because there is a LOT to cover in this “series finale” of sorts to the first few phases of the MCU. From the final stretch of the Avengers’ battle with Thanos, to the recovery of those lost to the blip to the death of mutliple beloved heroes, this film needs all the minutes it can get. Plus, we can’t leave out the iconic “Avengers, Assemble!” scene in the epic final battle.
