Avengers: Endgame remains Marvel Studios' longest movie at over three hours, but Eternals looks set to be another lengthy addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe's tapestry.
Fandango recently spoke to director Chloé Zhao about that 2 hours, 36 minutes runtime and the filmmaker admitted that the movie "could be longer." She adds: "You know, it’s ten characters, the Celestials and 7,000 years. There’s a lot going on." Asked if fans can expect deleted scenes on the eventual home entertainment release, Zhao simply responded, "You get to see some, yes."
Elsewhere in the interview, the director teased the role of these Eternals in the wider MCU.
"We like to call them Earth's original superheroes," the Oscar-winner said. "So, they were instructed to stand on the sideline once the Deviants were gone to allow humans to develop and progress in the way that we were meant to…and that ultimately led us to someone like Tony [Stark]. So, they've always existed in the shadows…you just never know where they might show up again."
It's clear Eternals will be an epic adventure, and it's good that Marvel Studios gave Zhao the time she needed to let this story breathe. The movie will more than likely have the same 45-day exclusive theatrical window as Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, so we hopefully won't have too long to wait before seeing the deleted scenes the filmmaker teases here.
Yesterday, plenty of new content from the movie was released, including some cool posters and the promise from Kevin Feige that this adventure will redefine the MCU as we know it.
Eternals will arrive exclusively in theaters on November 5.