It’s no secret that The Marvels is the MCU’s shortest movie ever. Thankfully, there’s a good reason for that.
During an interview with Digital Spy, filmmaker Nia DaCosta revealed why The Marvels clocks in at just 105 minutes long.
“I really wanted it to be under two hours,” she explained. “I always think about the runtime, actually, when I go into a film. I just feel like there’s no need to have it long if you don’t need to, because 1 hour 45 minutes is pretty average for a movie, so we were all really excited.”
“I just think you do what’s right for the movie,” she added. “I didn’t even know about this runtime thing until I think it was reported on. You have to do what’s right for the movie.”
The Marvels is officially the shortest MCU movie, beating the previous record set by The Incredible Hulk and Thor: The Dark World (which both clocked in at 112 minutes long) by seven whole minutes.
But while it may be the shortest MCU flick, DaCosta insists it still packs a punch. “We get to add to that history, that [Marvel is] starting to really dig into now, like women beating the shit out of each other,” said DaCosta. “We do a lot [of that] in this film, which is really exciting for me, because I love fight scenes. I was very excited to do it. I think the main fight scene, I’m really proud of. It’s something you haven’t seen before in the MCU, because of the nature of it, the switching.”
The Marvels stars Brie Larson as Captain Marvel alongside Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel and Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau. The film follows the trio when they start to swap places every time they use their powers. Marvel just released the final The Marvels trailer, which confirms the appearance of a major MCU character. The Marvels debuts in theaters on November 10, 2023.
Movie runtime has been a hot topic this year. Last month, legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese defended the length of his latest movie. Killers of the Flower Moon, which clocks in at a staggering 3 hours and 26 minutes — longer than the already-lengthy Oppenheimer, which was released earlier this year. “People say it’s three hours, but come on, you can sit in front of the TV and watch something for five hours,” Scorsese said. “Also, there are many people who watch theater for 3.5 hours. There are real actors on stage, you can’t get up and walk around. You give it that respect. Give cinema some respect.”
Want to read more about The Marvels? Check out the burning questions we have after Secret Invasion as well as everything you need to know about The Marvels.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
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