Marvel Reveals 'Black Panther's' Runtime, Releases New Character Bios

By Vianne Ilagan, Christian Post Contributor Thursday, January 04, 2018

Superhero films are typically long, and it looks like "Black Panther" is not veering away from the tradition. This week, Marvel has revealed the film's runtime, and it's a long one. In fact, it is shaping up to become one of the longest films ever released in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

According to Marvel, "Black Panther" will run for 135 minutes, which is equivalent to two hours and 15 minutes. Although it is a minute shorter than "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," it is longer than "Spider-Man: Homecoming," which ran for 133 minutes. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" is so far the longest MCU movie ever released, running for 136 minutes and accomplishing quite a lot in its runtime. "Thor: Ragnarok," which was originally supposed to run for only 90 minutes, ended up with 130 minutes of runtime after Marvel had decided to add 40 minutes to it.

With just a little less than two months before its release, "Black Panther" will reportedly get a new preview launch during the College Football National Championship Game next week, which will kick off at 8 p.m. EST on Disney-owned ESPN. Rapper Kendrick Lamar, whose songs are featured in the original soundtrack of "Black Panther," will grace the telecast.

Aside from the movie's runtime, Marvel has also revealed some new details about the characters in the film. The studio dropped earlier this week new character bios featuring the supporting characters around T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) when he returns to Wakanda after the death of his father T'Chaka.

"Black Panther" will pick up after the events in "Captain America: Civil War," which saw the death of T'Chaka. In the upcoming movie, T'Challa becomes the new king of Wakanda, and he is struggling to cope with the loss of his father. However, T'Challa remains determined to live up to his legacy. When a new threat emerges, he suits up as the Black Panther once again to defend his people.

"Black Panther" will hit theaters on Feb. 16.