Avengers: Doomsday Runtime Reportedly Around Three Hours, According to Daniel Richtman

Industry insider Daniel Richtman said he was hearing that the runtime for Avengers: Doomsday was right around three hours long. That would put it right on par with Avengers: Endgame, which was right at the three hour mark, and it makes a lot more sense than an earlier report that the film could run almost four hours.

An earlier report put Avengers: Doomsday at 3 hours and 45 minutes

New sources kept coming out with details about the next Avengers film, and other commentators were also jumping in with plot details they said they had been hearing from their own sources. One of those updates claimed that Avengers: Doomsday might possibly have a runtime of 3 hours and 45 minutes.

When I covered that report, I admitted I would love a four hour Avengers movie, and they certainly have enough to cover in this film. But I noted that it would be a huge deviation, not only from Marvel Studios standards for a film's length, but from what Hollywood considers a long runtime. That's especially true in a day and age where TikTok and YouTube Shorts have reduced everybody's attention span to mere seconds. The newer report came from a much more trusted source, and the number it gave is a lot more believable.

Daniel Richtman's three hour figure matches Avengers: Endgame

Richtman's update was that he was hearing Avengers: Doomsday runs right around three hours. In the past, Marvel Studios has always tried to hold extremely tight to the two hour mark, within about five minutes either way. Five minutes less, five minutes more, but right at two hours.

Avengers movies have grown into what they are, though, and this film has so much ground to cover. Presumably three hours is going to allow them to explore that space without it feeling rushed. Given what I've been hearing about how much action has been packed into this film, three hours also makes a lot of sense, because you still need dialogue and plot development in there too. From all the recent accounts, it really sounds like this is going to be wall to wall action, one sequence after another, and three hours gives them the time to fit all of that into one movie.

Doctor Doom's origin story may not fit into Avengers: Doomsday

There's a real push and pull between what they need to fit into the film and what they want to fit into it. The real tragedy would be introducing Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday without giving his origin story or really any runway to the character at all. Doing that properly would require a huge chunk of what I'd assume would be the first act.

But looking at all the plot leaks and the added details that have surfaced, it really feels like they are going to hit the ground running. I don't think there will be enough time to focus on the origin story or the backstory. Instead, they'll be focusing on the current events happening in real time across the multiverse, lined up with the 616. In that case, maybe Doom's origin isn't explored at all. I had also heard that perhaps they won't actually address why he looks like Tony Stark until Avengers: Secret Wars, and that could be a timing issue. Three hours is a long film by a lot of standards, but it's still not enough time to include everything you'd want.

Overlapping work on Avengers: Secret Wars puts pressure on the edit

The push and pull really comes down to what the Russos and Marvel Studios need to include to have a functional film, and what they want to include to have a great film. Because of how these movies were stacked, shooting duties on Avengers: Secret Wars were coming up at the same time they'd be running double duty on post production for Avengers: Doomsday, pretty much the entire year right up until its release. That creates pressure to make the right decisions.

In Hollywood, you don't have unlimited time to edit your film. They were working with something of an extended timeline compared to Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, but in that case they shot the two movies concurrently. This time it's one after another, so there's an overlap where they are trying to edit Avengers: Doomsday while starting to film Avengers: Secret Wars. That just means some things aren't going to make it into the film. If the origin story for Doctor Doom is something they want to explore in Avengers: Secret Wars, that would free up a huge chunk of time to focus on current events.

Why I think Marvel Studios is right to skip director's cuts

Marvel Studios doesn't allow for director's cuts. There's no such thing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I actually think that's a great idea, because it allows what's canonical to stand for what it is. That doesn't mean Marvel universes, the current one or ones past, always hold to their own continuity and never mess things up. But what's presented theatrically is canon. The theatrical cut is the only cut of the film. There are no extended editions and no special editions.

Yes, they release deleted scenes, and sometimes those give us a little different context, but those scenes aren't canon because they were deleted. All of that is basically to say that "art is better when people make hard decisions." You don't want a movie that's overstuffed, and you don't want one that's too fast paced. You want to hit the right mark, and Marvel Studios has always left a little leeway to do that. By going out to three hours and letting Doomsday be as long as Avengers: Endgame, they're basically admitting they know they need the time.

Casual moviegoers are why three hours is probably the ceiling

For Marvel diehards who would sit in a theater for six hours if they'd give us a six hour cut of Avengers: Doomsday, a long runtime isn't a big deal. But Marvel Studios, especially with the Avengers franchise, is playing to the largest part of the public. That means not just the diehards, but everyone who hasn't been to an Avengers movie since maybe Avengers: Endgame, or hasn't been to an MCU movie in a couple of years, or maybe goes to see one like the Fantastic Four.

If they ran a four hour Avengers movie for the diehards, we would love it. But picture the common moviegoer Marvel wants to bring out, the ones who remember Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. They see that those two are back and decide to go see the Avengers movie that weekend, then find out it's 3 hours and 45 minutes, and they don't go. There are moviegoers who would skip it because they don't want to sit through a nearly four hour film. So Marvel Studios can't just make a movie as long as it wants. There are industry standards for a reason, because people just won't sit through a movie that long, and three hours is right at the top.

People complained about Oppenheimer, and it was three hours. I don't think of Avengers: Endgame as feeling like three hours because of the film it is, but maybe if it went another 20 or 45 minutes, it would feel that way, and that's something they just won't allow to happen. I'm right there with everyone who wants to see it all, but "just keep your expectations tempered." Three hours is probably the absolute top, and the final runtime is probably right around there or just under.

How long would you want Avengers: Doomsday to run?