Marvel Studios Quietly Confirms Its Biggest Spider-Man Movie Yet - MCE Notices | California State Portal

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has always understood the importance of events and how runtimes can affect that. But as time progressed, long runtimes have only existed when tied to the importance of the story, making Spider-Man: Brand New Day unique.

Recently reported by Movieweb, two theaters in Singapore and the UK have revealed a record-breaking runtime for Brand New Day. But with its announced longer runtime, it also sets up big things for Spider-Man going forward in the MCU and underscores how important his stories could be for the franchise’s expanding street-level.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s Runtime Makes Spider-Man History

Image via Marvel Studios/Everett Collection

Reportedly, Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s runtime sits at 150 minutes or 2 hours and 30 minutes even. This film is two minutes longer than Spider-Man: No Way Home, breaking the record for the longest Spider-Man movie ever. No Spider-Man movie has ever been under two hours, but none have ever been almost three either. Even Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was only 140 minutes, even if it felt like a much longer movie.

Spider-Man movies have made history before, as well, such as bringing back Charlie Cox’s Daredevil to the MCU and reintroducing Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield all in one film. There’s also the entire Spider-Verse series, which connects a multiverse of characters, including Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man. But when it comes to runtimes, there’s been no reason for these movies to overstay their welcome without a good reason.

To be fair, two minutes longer than the last film isn’t much of a difference, especially if those two minutes are devoted to the credits, and it’s always possible the film could still be longer or shorter. But in the world of records, every little bit counts, and those two minutes make all the difference. Characters like Batman feel like cinematic events, and even his latest film, The Batman (2022), had a runtime of almost three hours.

Spider-Man deserves a long runtime for his movies because his films have only recently started to feel like true events. But a long runtime also fixes an issue that past Spider-Man films have suffered and often resulted in the end of each franchise.

A Long Runtime is Perfect for Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Spider-Man movie franchises often start strong, focusing on the hero, a problem, and a single villain between them. It’s often the best formula to tell a strong and simple story, but with each entry, the films often bite off more than they can chew. In the case of two franchises, this is exactly what killed them.

Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man tenure ended with Spider-Man 3, a film notorious for being overstuffed with villains and plotlines. The film tried to balance the Black Suit storyline, Sandman’s storyline, and Peter and Harry Osborn’s falling-out as he became the New Goblin. With the film only being just over 2 hours, it was impossible to get a fully emotional story without lengthening the runtime, leading to an overstuffed plot.

Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man run ended with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, a movie that was almost 2 and a half hours and explored Peter’s relationship with Gwen, Electro, and Harry Osborn becoming the Green Goblin. The issue in this case wasn’t too many characters but a plot that bent and stretched itself to make sense only to stumble to the finish line. Andre Garfield’s story remains the most tragic because his story never even got a proper conclusion, all because of poor pacing and a bloated plot.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day, with 150 minutes to work with, has the chance to balance its many rumored plotlines in an organic way. Its street-level story featuring Tombstone, Scorpion, and the Hand will likely drive the bulk of the plot. But his metamorphosis, which ties into Peter’s new powers, the Punisher, and potentially Sadie Sink’s rumored Mutant character, also plays a major role.

With its runtime, these elements have the chance to be perfectly balanced without losing the emotional core of Peter and Mary Jane’s relationship. Often, action and emotion become uneven in Spider-Man films, but Brand New Day has a chance to finally change this for the better.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Joins Other Massive MCU Films

The Avengers assembled in Avengers: Endgame

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is now one of the longest MCU films alongside Avengers: Endgame and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. These two films alone justify their length because of the stakes behind them. Endgame marked the end of a decade of storytelling, and it had to juggle celebrating a powerful era of cinema while also wrapping up its story. Wakanda Forever felt like an event film that had to honor the passing of Chadwick Boseman while also telling an epic story of warring kingdoms.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day isn’t a story about warring kingdoms or marking the end of an era for the MCU, but what it is is a big step for the MCU’s street-level characters. As Daredevil: Born Again and Punisher: One Last Kill dominate streaming, Spider-Man: Brand New Day feels like a movie that has a similar effect to the Avengers, marking a culmination of past events.

If so, Brand New Day could be the catalyst to make Spidey and the other street-level heroes the new focus of the MCU, and to do that, a long runtime has to happen. Without it, it could be another bloated mess that struggles to balance action and emotion. Considering this is the first time characters like the Punisher, Spider-Man, and the Hulk are meeting, it’s not the film to make the same old mistakes.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is more than ready to be the spark that sets off a new era of the MCU that gives more love to the street-level heroes audiences have grown to love. With this long runtime, Peter’s story can get the proper attention while new plotlines can emerge that will hopefully mean Spider-Man can return in other films and maybe even shows. All it takes is a movie that doesn’t overstay its welcome and delivers a great narrative.