Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Listed running times at theaters suggest it could be the second-longest MCU movie

Much mystery surrounds the sequel to 2018’s Black Panther. Audiences greatly anticipate Black Panther: Wakanda Forever for a plethora of reasons. The biggest reason would be to see how the movie plans to send off and pay tribute to the character fans have come to know over four movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, T’Challa, played by the late Chadwick Boseman. Recently, Kevin Feige explained why he decided against the recasting of the popular character after the untimely passing of the beloved actor portraying him, citing, “It felt like it was much too soon to recast.”

However, the first film centered its plot around the world-building of the fictional country of Wakanda. Much of the importance of the original movie came from learning about the characters in this culture and the legend of the Black Panther mythos. ScreenRant reports that theater chains such as Regal Cinemas and Cineplex have already listed the running time for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever at 2 hours and 41 minutes. This would make the film the second-longest MCU movie behind Avengers: Endgame at just over 3 hours. 

Avengers: Endgame was an epic that dealt with a lot of plot threads. And it would seem that a running time of this magnitude would benefit Wakanda Forever for allowing the audience to grieve T’Challa, re-introduce characters and the world in the aftermath of his absence, as well as establishing the new character of Namor, the Sub-Mariner. Then, allowing the conflict to unfold in the usual superhero movie fashion with plenty of jaw-dropping action scenes.

It really should be noted, though, that theaters are known to have listed false runtimes as placeholders when the movie is a couple of months away from release, as the studio may not have released the technical aspects of the films yet. The confirmation is pending, but if it turns out to be the case, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will be presented on a much grander scale than its predecessor. 

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever will close out Phase 4 for the MCU and is scheduled to hit theaters on November 11.