Audiences should be able to fully learn about the Eternals' origin, where they've been in the MCU to this point, and what the future holds.
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While Eternals having a longer runtime than Avengers: Infinity War isn't a guarantee that the movie will be good, it is a positive sign that Marvel has given Zhao plenty of time to lay the foundation for a likely franchise. Eternals theoretically has even more to explain and possibly set up. Avengers: Infinity War's events all happened within a short amount of time as Thanos collected the Infinity Stones, but its runtime grew because of how much story it had to tell. Showing the Eternals throughout various millennia will take time and shouldn't be rushed through. The marketing for Eternals has balanced a personal story with teases of epic scope. This includes everything from their initial arrival on Earth to discussing why they didn't interfere with Thanos' invasion and snap. The film is set to explore the Eternals' role throughout human history, which spans roughly 7,000 years.
The other reason Eternals needs to surpass Avengers: Infinity War's runtime is the story that Zhao plans to tell. With the Celestials, Deviants, and Black Knight (Kit Harington) also set to appear, the need for Eternals' long runtime becomes even more clear. The only way audiences will care about all of the main Eternals is if the movie spends adequate time exploring each of their stories and the team's collective experience. While Infinity War was able to juggle a massive cast so well because audiences already know the various heroes, Eternals doesn't have that luxury.
The focus of Eternals is on the main 10 members of the Eternals team, such as Sersi (Gemma Chan), Ikaris (Richard Madden), Ajak (Salma Hayek), and Thena (Angelina Jolie). Infinity War had a massive ensemble that included nearly every MCU character to date, but this didn't include introducing many new ones. One of the main reasons why Eternals needs to be longer than Avengers: Infinity War is the size of its cast and the types of characters it includes. Related: Eternals: Every Change To Marvel's New Superheroes We Already Know While Eternals being longer than Avengers: Infinity War and 23 other MCU movies is unexpected, it makes sense for the movie to run longer than most. This is quite surprising considering how the MCU has handled the first installments of franchises in the past, as most of them hover around the 2-hour mark.
The rumored runtime for Eternals has Chloé Zhao's movie running 2 hours and 36 minutes long. However, there is now a possibility that it will slide back to third place. The length of Avengers: Infinity War allowed it to maintain being the second-longest MCU movie after Avengers: Endgame clocked in at just over 3 hours. At the time of its release, Avengers: Infinity War set multiple records for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film. It became the highest-grossing movie from the franchise and featured the longest runtime of any MCU film to date at 2 hours and 29 minutes long. Eternals' rumored runtime would make it longer than Avengers: Infinity War, and it needs to be based on the number of characters it has and the story it tells.