Roger Ebert's wise words of “No good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough” are permanently etched in mind, especially when heading into the 2025 movie schedule. That being said, a new development has inspired me to be a bit hypocritical about that doctrine. You can thank an update about the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World for that, as I'm quite pleased that a surprisingly short runtime is reportedly in store for this blockbuster!
That knowledge comes from the official AMC Theatres page for the flick, which now lists Brave New World as running 118 minutes. On the surface, that’s a pretty crisp pace for the right story to play out. But, again, if your Marvel movie sticks the landing at 150 minutes, like James Gunn did with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, that screening will fly by.
That actually touches upon the major reason I’m happy Captain America: Brave New World has this allegedly svelte time frame. While director Julias Onah’s upcoming Marvel movie is the fourth to carry the Cap brand, it starts off a new story with a new MCU character taking on that storied mantle.
So we’re not quite in reboot country, but one could say a rebranding is pretty close. That's because Sam Wilson’s tenure with the shield should be a very different story than Steve Rogers’ origins. Judging by the action we’ve seen in the trailer, I have a feeling that the interconnected intrigue will still be present, while also allowing Brave New World to be a total thrill ride.
Just picture it: a chapter that still sets the table, but doesn’t get bogged down with too much prep work for the road ahead! It certainly worked for 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, and that beauty was the last Marvel movie in order right before The Avengers stormed our world!
To that point, check out this list of the running times for Chris Evans’ trilogy of solo Captain America movies:
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) - 124 minutes
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) - 136 minutes
- Captain America: Civil War (2016) - 147 minutes
Everything from the rise of the Thunderbolts* to other necessary beats on the road to Avengers: Doomsday awaits, and having Captain America: Brave New World seemingly slimmed down feels promising. Of course, 2023’s The Marvels was even shorter at 105 minutes long and, if you ask me, that movie definitely fell into the “not short enough” bucket.
In either case, I wonder if this news will have any effects on Cap 4’s opening weekend estimates? Surely we'll get updated numbers as the clock ticks down to a Brave New World dawning in theaters, starting February 14th. For those of you who like to do the homework, you can catch the previous Captain America films and The Falcon and Winter Soldier’s one-season run, through access to a Disney+ subscription!
