The ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ runtime may have been revealed, and Marvel fans won’t like it

Good news! We may now know the exact runtime of incoming MCU movie Captain America: Brave New World. Bad news! Marvel fans probably aren’t going to like it…

With the previous Marvel Studios film coming last summer in the form of $1.3 billion blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine, we’ve had an atypically long time to wait until another MCU came our way (I mean, Sony offered up Venom 3 and Kraven the Hunter, but, well, they hardly count). The pressure is on Brave New World to deliver, then. Especially as it serves as the follow-up to the universally acclaimed Captain America trilogy, starring Chris Evans as the Star-Spangled Man.

There are certainly enough elements in the mix to blow MCU lovers away. As the film’s marketing has hinged on, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson will be joined by Harrison Ford as President Red Hulk (a corrupt POTUS with an inhuman skin tone? Where do they get their ideas!). Then there’s Tim Blake Nelson’s the Leader back in the mix, for the first time since 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. Not to mention rumors of a certain team of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes re-assembling.

All of that is why the film’s apparent runtime may come as something of a surprise.

Brave New World‘s reported runtime would make it the shortest Captain America movie yet

Now that we’re only one month exactly from Brave New World swooping into cinemas, AMC Theaters has updated its listing for the film. According to the AMC site, Captain America 4 will sport a runtime of exactly 1 hour, 58 minutes.

This will come as a surprise to fans for a few reasons. For starters, because IMDb — which is never a reliable source of intel at the best of times, but still — previously listed Brave New World‘s runtime as 2 hours, 15 minutes. Given AMC’s update, this appears to have been more of a placeholder runtime based on an educated guess. And a 135-minute length would make a lot more sense. If AMC’s listing is to be believed, Cap 4 will be the shortest film in the series to date.

It’s notable any time a Marvel film slips under 2 hours, but it’s particularly surprising when it comes to the traditionally giant-sized Cap franchise. 2011’s The First Avenger may have only been 2 hours, 4 minutes, but things soon expanded when the Russos took the reins. 2014’s The Winter Soldier is 2 hours, 16 minutes with 2016’s Civil War even longer at 2 hours, 27 minutes. Brave New World may end up a full half-hour shorter than its predecessor.

Given what we know of its extremely troubled post-production period, which involved poor test screenings and extensive reshoots, a truncated runtime doesn’t exactly bode well for Brave New World. Then again, many of the most popular MCU movies — including Guardians of the Galaxy (2 hours, 1 minute) and Iron Man (2 hours, 6 minutes) — are on the shorter side, so this isn’t necessarily a reason to despair just yet. We’ll find out if Captain America 4 can prove that size doesn’t matter come Feb. 14.