'Avengers: Endgame' Final Cut Is Longer Than the Russo's Original Directors' Cut

When fans settle in to watch the Infinity Saga come to an end when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters [...]

When fans settle in to watch the Infinity Saga come to an end when Avengers: Endgame hits theaters in a few weeks, they will be sitting for a good chunk of time. The hotly-anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe film has a runtime of just a little over three hours. With a film that long, many would expect that the "director's cut" would end up being even longer, but according to Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo, that simply isn't the case. Their first cut of the film was actually shorter.

In an interview with Collider, the Russo Brothers explained that while the film's runtime hasn't shifted much, their first cut was slightly shorter than what fans will get to see on the big screen.

"We've been working on this movie for well over a year in editorial because we finished it in 2018, and it literally hasn't moved maybe more than two minutes from its original runtime on the director's cut," Joe Russo said. "It's just a tough one. There's just a lot of story in it. We like emotional stakes that require screen time."

"We have almost everything in this move that we shot... I think [our first cut] was slightly shorter than this," he continued."

The idea that the runtime hasn't changed much in the process is something that Russo addressed previously in an interview late last month, noting that even when they changed different elements of things, the length stayed mostly the same.

"We're still looking at a similar time [approximately three hours]. This one's been very specific in its run time. It really hasn't changed since we executed the first cut of the film," Russo revealed at the time. "Even though we've shot a lot of footage between now and then, we've swapped things out and the water keeps rising to the same level because the story's so dense. We have so many characters that we're working with again that require that kind of run time."

However, the comments to Collider is interesting for more than just the runtime. Russo notes that nearly everything they shot made it to the film, which means that when it comes to deleted scenes there may not be many to reveal after Endgame hits theaters. If that's the case, then the Endgame that fans get on April 26th very well could be the most complete version possible, putting everything out there to close out a story begun 21 films and over a decade before.

Fans will get to see how it all comes together when Avengers: Endgame opens in theaters April 26th.

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