Marvel Studios’ latest blockbuster sequel Ant-Man & The Wasp runs for exactly one minute longer than the first Ant-Man, according to press materials. Ant-Man & The Wasp will of course be Marvel Studios’ third entry into the MCU canon in 2018, after February’s mega hit Black Panther, and April’s seismic smash Avengers: Infinity War. Featuring Paul Rudd returning as the current iteration of Ant-Man, Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Van Dyne officially assuming the identity of The Wasp, and Michael Douglas as genius inventor - and original Ant-Man - Hank Pym, Ant-Man & The Wasp heads to theaters with high expectations from fans, and hope that it can somehow live up to its 2018 predecessors.
While Ant-Man & The Wasp’s plot is still vague - Marvel Studios just loves keeping fans guessing - it’s at least known that the sequel sees the titular duo team up to take down new villain Ghost, a criminal who gains dangerous abilities after stealing some of Pym’s tech. Another goal the Pyms and Scott Lang seek to accomplish is the rescue of Hope’s mom and Hank’s wife Janet Van Dyne, who has spent decades lost within the quantum realm. In a terrific bit of casting, Janet - the original Wasp - is being played by Michelle Pfieffer, who memorably played Catwoman in Tim Burton’s 1992 sequel Batman Returns.
As revealed by Marvel Studios’ press materials for the film, Ant-Man & The Wasp runs 118 minutes in length, as opposed to the 117 minute running time of 2015’s original Ant-Man movie. That’s understandably quite a bit shorter than Infinity War, Marvel Studios’ longest film to date, and one that featured nearly every hero in the franchise outside of Ant-Man and The Wasp. It’s also a lot shorter than Black Panther, which came in at 134 minutes in length after regaling audiences with T’Challa’s epic tale of gaining a kingdom, losing it, then gaining it again.
Proving that the common misconception of superhero movie running times only getting longer since the dawn of the MCU isn’t entirely accurate, Ant-Man & The Wasp is also shorter than 2008’s MCU kickoff movie Iron Man, which ran for 126 minutes. In fact, Ant-Man & The Wasp is one of the shortest films in the entire MCU canon to date, with only 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, 2011’s first Thor film and its 2013 sequel Thor: The Dark World, the aforementioned first Ant-Man, and 2016’s Doctor Strange getting in and out in less time. When it comes specifically to the second film in an MCU sub-franchise, only Thor: The Dark World is shorter - by three minutes - as Iron Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 all easily surpass the 2-hour mark.
In many ways, Ant-Man & The Wasp’s relative brevity when compared to other MCU films may be exactly what fans need after the emotionally exhausting, but endlessly thrilling ride that was Avengers: Infinity War. While Scott Lang’s second headlining adventure is suspected to have larger ties to what’s to come in Avengers 4, for the most part, Ant-Man & The Wasp is almost like the MCU equivalent of a “breather” episode, designed to amuse and delight fans while they recover from seeing many of their favorite heroes die.
More: Ant-Man & The Wasp: Every Update You Need To Know
Source: Marvel Studios
- Ant-Man 2 Release Date: 2018-07-06 captain marvel Release Date: 2019-03-08 The Avengers 4 Release Date: 2019-04-26 spider-man homecoming 2 Release Date: 2019-07-02
