Avengers: Endgame Directors Address Runtime, Intermission Rumor

CBR

By Drew Mollo

Published Feb 8, 2019

Joe and Anthony Russo confirmed Avengers: Endgame is on track to be three hours long, which they feel is necessary to contain the massive storyline.

After Avengers: Infinity War clocked in at 156 minutes, directors Joe and Anthony Russo repeatedly asserted that Endgame could be 180 minutes, meaning the three-hour-long movie could be the longest US Superhero film ever created. In a recent interview, the Russos confirmed that the film is still on track to be three hours, which they feel is necessary to contain the massive cast and storyline.

"I think the studio is down with whatever the best story is," Joe Russo told Collider. "Right now, we think the movie is playing well and we've had great response from our test audiences, and we're feeling very good about where it is."

He confirmed, with his brother Anthony nodding in agreement, that they are still working on it and reminded everyone that the movie is a culmination of 22 Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. "That's a lot of storytelling to work into it and emotion is an intrinsic part of that to us and, when you have to tell a really complicated story and you want strong emotional moments for the characters, it just requires a certain amount of real estate," he explained.

When asked about the possibility of an intermission to help audiences handle such a long film, Joe Russo confirmed they've joked about it in the production room. At this time, though, there aren't plans for one. "We've screened the movie four times for audiences now," Anthony Russo said. "For the first three screenings, not a single person got up to go to the bathroom."

Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr., Josh Brolin, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Olsen, Chadwick Boseman, Sebastian Stan, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Bettany, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Benedict Wong, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Holland and Anthony Mackie. The film arrives on April 26.