Fans Furious as Marvel Minimizes ‘The Marvels’

Marvel might be about to break its own record with The Marvels (2023) – and fans aren’t happy.

The world’s biggest superhero franchise has broken plenty of records since Robert Downey Jr. first stepped onto our screens as Tony Stark in Iron Man (2008). Over the past 15 years, Marvel Studios has released the world’s highest-grossing superhero movie (and at one point the world’s highest-grossing movie, period) with Avengers: Endgame (2019).

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Endgame also previously held the title of the most expensive movie ever made until it was overtaken by Avatar: The Way of Water (2022).

Meanwhile, Captain Marvel (2019) broke the box office after earning $1.131 billion, becoming the highest-grossing superhero movie led by a female superhero. Until Frozen 2 (2019) and Barbie (2023) came along, it was also the highest-grossing movie directed (or co-directed) by a female director.

Now, Captain Marvel is returning to break more records. Well, hopefully. The past few years have seen Marvel’s grip on the box office wane. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) underperformed, with the latter becoming Marvel’s biggest flop ever.

Considering the success of the first film, many are hopeful that The Marvels (2023) – which sees Brie Larson (Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel) team up with Iman Vellani (Kamal Khan/Ms. Marvel) and Teyonah Parris (Monica Rambeau) – will buck the trend, just like Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (2023).

However, there are several more obstacles this time around. The Marvels needs to contend with the fact that it’s tougher for films to thrive at the box office in general post-COVID, that Marvel has become too complicated, and the fact that superhero fatigue has well and truly set into pop culture.

One way that The Marvels may be able to overcome the latter? A short runtime. A common complaint is that superhero movies are too bloated for their own good – which may be why Marvel has reportedly broken its own record by making The Marvels the shortest Marvel movie to date.

The Movie Database officially lists its runtime as one hour and 47 minutes (or 107 minutes). That’s 20 minutes shorter than the first movie, which clocked in at two hours and four minutes. It’s short for any movie – but especially a superhero blockbuster.

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While you’d think this was a good thing, considering complaints about Marvel’s long, complex plots and sluggish storytelling, most fans seem to feel otherwise.

“This is gonna be horribly paced isn’t it,” said @Tyler02442438 on X (previously known as Twitter).

User @SammyScottt agreed, writing, “Can they just stick to the 3 hour movies range?”

Some also appear concerned that the short runtime isn’t enough for a film with three leads. “With this many characters, this is a bad sign,” said @Ryan86896586.

While it definitely seems challenging to juggle three characters’ storylines in one film, its director and writer, Nia DaCosta, seems extremely passionate about telling countless more Captain Marvel stories in the future – which should hopefully mean we’re in good hands.

Are you happy with a shorter run time for The Marvels? Let us know your thoughts!