In recent years, Marvel movies have started getting longer and longer. Avengers: Endgame is the longest, clocking in at a whopping 3 hours and 1 minutes, while its predecessor, Avengers: Infinity War, is 2 hours and 29 minutes. But those are huge, epic team-ups, right? Of course a movie’s going to be long when you’re throwing together every character in your cinematic universe and the fate of half of all life is at stake. So, it may surprise you to know that the runtimes of Marvel solo outings have steadily been creeping up, too. Spider-Man: No Way Home is 2 and a half hours, and Eternals is an utterly unforgivable 2 hours and 37 minutes.
Thankfully, the trend now seems to be reversing. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness came in at a trim 2 hours and 6 minutes, and AMC has now revealed that Thor: Love and Thunder is even shorter.
Thor: Love and Thunder continues the saga of Marvel’s God of Thunder. After having gotten some closure after the Battle of Earth in Endgame, Thor has now embarked on a journey of self-discovery, trying to find out who he really is after abdicating the throne of New Asgard. The movie will feature Thor adventuring with the Guardians of the Galaxy and going up against Zeus and the Olympians, eventually fighting Gorr the God Butcher, who wants to wipe out all gods in the universe. We’ll also see Jane Foster take on the mantle of the Mighty Thor, just as she does in the comics.
That’s a lot to pack into one movie! However, you don’t need a massive runtime to tell a good story, even when there’s a lot going on. I remember, as I was sitting through minute #142 of Eternals, I couldn’t help but think of Steven Universe, the animated series that ran on Cartoon Network from 2013 to 2019. Episodes clocked in at around 11 minutes each, and each one managed to tell a complete and satisfying story. As long as you’re making every second of footage and every line of dialogue count, you can fit all sorts of great stuff into a short narrative. And Thor fans are lucky enough to have seasoned director Taika Waititi at the helm of Thor 4. If anyone can do it, it’s Waititi, whose acclaimed Thor: Ragnarok was barely over 2 hours.
Runtime Revealed
Now that tickets are on sale for Thor 4, the website for AMC Theaters has a listing revealing that the runtime is 1 hour and 59 minutes. Fear not, Thor fans: You won’t have to fast or taper off liquids before you enter the theater! This movie isn’t going to hold you hostage for an entire afternoon! Instead, it looks like we may get a rich, zany, compelling story in under 2 hours, just as the gods intended.
(featured image: Marvel Studios)
