A great deal of uncertainty swirls around the MCU and its headlining Avengers movies after Marvel Studios dropped its supervillain actor, Jonathan Majors. While Marvel is scrambling to right the ship, new information shared by an insider suggests that Avengers: Secret Wars may have a runtime that will rival Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
According to a report by insider Jeff Sneider, Secret Wars will have a massive, exhausting runtime of five hours – hopefully including bathroom breaks. The movie is so long that Marvel is considering splitting it into two parts (groan). This supports earlier rumors that the upcoming movie will be “a giant five-hour movie with a year-long intermission.”
The rumor hints that Avengers: Secret Wars, which is scheduled for May 7, 2027, will be followed by Secret Wars Part 2 in 2028. The pair of films will be preceded by Avengers 5 which currently doesn’t have a title after the departure of Jonathan Majors.
#AvengersSecretWars is shaping up to be two films
A source says '[It's] a giant five-hour movie with a year-long intermission'
(via @TheInSneider) pic.twitter.com/U8dPnZMU06
— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) December 20, 2023
We have to take this information with a huge pinch of salt as Marvel Studios hasn’t officially commented on it. However, it would be entirely plausible given that the source material pits the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four against supervillains including Kang the Conqueror, Doctor Doom, Enchantress, and even Galactus.
If the rumors are true then the cuts of the movies will be around two and a half hours long, which is very close to Avengers: Endgame territory. It would be easy to imagine that Marvel will use a lot of the screen time to tie in characters to the whole Multiverse Saga given that only Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Ant-Man, and Loki have ever been in Multiverse.
Marvel may also be using the lengthy two-part movie to reboot the MCU. The storylines have been all over the place and Marvel should take a page out of the comic books and reboot the whole cinematic universe to stop variants and spin-offs from getting out of hand. The studio may also try to introduce new additions like the X-Men into the universe.
Screenwriter Michael Waldron and his crew will also have to factor in the recent firing of Jonathan Majors in the Secret Wars equation. Though it will be very easy to recast the character, there are rumors that Doctor Doom may be taking part in Secret Wars. Marvel will need some time to establish Victor von Doom as a primary antagonist if this is the case.
For now, fans will have to wait a while for Avengers: Secret Wars, and things may change along the way. It will be interesting how Marvel finishes the Multiverse Saga given the past disappointments and criticisms. Hopefully, Marvel pulls out an Avengers: Endgame-style finish and gathers everyone for one massive battle sequence given that it is the Secret Wars.
