DESPITE the unfathomable trend of blockbuster films reaching a runtime length of 150 minutes at a minimum, The Marvels is set to buck the trend. Unlike all the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) 15 years of life, Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels will be the shortest film in the franchise at only 105 minutes.

Speaking to Digital Spy, DaCosta explained that the goal was always for her to make an MCU film in under two hours. “I always think about the runtime, actually, when I go into a film. I just feel like there’s no need to have it long if you don’t need to, because one hour 45 minutes is pretty average for a movie, so we were all really excited”.

Though DaCosta has shaved off the usual time excess that has bloated other films, she goes on to claim that the film does not skimp on the action.

“We get to add to that history that Marvel is starting to really dig into now, like women beating the shit out of each other,” DaCosta said. “We do a lot of that in this film, which is really exciting for me because I love fight scenes.

I was very excited to do it. I think it’s the main fight scene that I’m really proud of. It’s something you have not seen before in the MCU because of the nature of it, the switching.”

As the director puts it, “the switching” refers to the film’s three leads, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), swapping places whenever they use their powers. The team-up film is the collective sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, 2021’s WandaVision and 2022’s Ms Marvel.

The Marvels opens in cinemas starting today.