'Thor: Ragnarok' May Be The Shortest MCU Movie

Like a good shot and chaser, it seems like the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be leading up to its longest film ever with one of its shortest films ever.

Thor: Ragnarok has not yet seen its final cut, but the movie may end up being the shortest film in the MCU, director Taika Waititi teases. This would beat out 2008's The Incredible Hulk, which clocked in at 112 minutes, or 1 hour and 52 minutes. Since then, most of the movies in the MCU have been over 2 hours.

As the person who seems to be on the official Marvel run time beat, I'd like to thank Thor: Ragnarok for keeping it simple. I have no hard feelings toward Avengers: Infinity War inching on past the three-hour mark to possibly being the longest MCU movie ever — it's a necessity for a movie that will be the culmination of a decade of superhero movies.

And I'm glad that Thor: Ragnarok will be whetting our appetites for the cosmic explosiveness with a less than two-hour romp. As if we couldn't get more excited for this fresh, zany take on the character that we saw in the recent Comic-Con trailer, the third Thor movie will be its shortest yet. And possibly, the shortest MCU movie yet, if what director Taika Waititi told Collider is true:

"The cut right now, I reckon it's about 100 minutes. It's not gonna be a very, very long film. I think that stories are better when you leave them wanting more, and this film moves at a clip, it's got stuff happening all the time. I think people are still gonna feel exhausted by the end, they've been on this big journey and stuff, so I don't think we need the film to be three hours."

I'm all for lean, brisk superhero movies when most Marvel movies vary between 115 and 130 minutes long, and DC Extended Universe movies are dangerously longer, sitting in the 120-150 minute range. Heck, even the fun and light-hearted Spider-Man: Homecoming was probably a few minutes too long.

So I'm happy that Thor: Ragnarok — which when I first heard the news of its doomsday-type storyline, thought it would be a dark and weighty epic much like Thor: The Dark World tried to be — will be trimming down the fat. And it seems like whatever is being left on the cutting room floor will just be comedic moments that we can see on the Blu-ray. Waititi continued:

"There will be a lot of deleted scenes. Great scenes. Funny, funny moments that—you can't have it all. As I say you gotta kill those puppies, so we had to take some of those things out. Those scenes will exist so people will be able to see them."

Thor: Ragnarok stars Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson, Karl Urban, Mark Ruffalo, and Anthony Hopkins. It hits theaters November 3, 2017.