Superhero movies used to be considered bad films or low-budget extravaganzas more than they were exciting blockbusters. That said, recent decades have delivered some profoundly fun superhero movies that have kickstarted and ended many franchises.
Sometimes, these films get even longer in the runtime, and what audiences find is a collection of superhero films fromBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to Eternals that give audiences a lot to chew on. But some movies aren’t as beloved as others.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Builds a Universe in 152 Minutes
Ben Affleck as Batman facing Henry Cavill as Superman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of JusticeImage via Warner Bros. / DC / Courtesy of Everett Collection
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was meant to kickstart the DC Extended Universe and introduce its trinity with Batman and Wonder Woman joining Superman. But in the end, the movie struggled to deliver a story that fans wanted. Using the inspiration of The Dark Knight Returns as a way to kickstart a narrative arc wasn’t the best bet.
In the end, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a stylish movie with fun action, but it struggles with its 152-minute runtime. It tries to throw too much at the viewer and sets up more than it pays off, like Batman’s narrative, and because of this, the movie meanders longer than it delivers.
The Dark Knight Uses 152 Minutes to Tell a Riveting Crime Story
Image via Warner Bros./ Courtesy Everett Collection
The Dark Knight is widely hailed as one o, if not the best superhero movie out there and with good reason. Taking the Batman mythos and grounding it was the first step, but this film brings in the Joker and shows how a comical character can be completely terrifying and chaotic.
The Dark Knight uses its 152-minute runtime to explore the deeper themes of society and mania and how people react to situations out of their control. It begs the question of whether anarchy is a universal constant and does so without dragging for a moment.
Superman Returns is 154 Minutes of Nostalgia That Fails to Take Off
Image via Warner Bros.
Superman Returns was the film that led controversial director Bryan Singer to leave the X-Men franchise in a bid to rekindle the wonder of the Christopher Reeve era of the character. Set after the events of Superman II, the film sees Brandon Routh as Clark Kent exploring new themes that still haven’t been shown in other movie iterations.
The highlight, more than anything, was Routh’s performance as Superman because of how he injected his own charm while delivering a flattering homage to Christopher Reeve’s character. But unfortunately, at 154 minutes, there’s too little of anything in the film outside of nostalgia to hold the audience’s attention.
Eternals Asked a Lot of its Audience for 156 Minutes
CBR Exclusive · Quiz WHICH DC HERO ARE YOU? The Justice League Is Waiting for Your Answer Gotham’s Dark Knight. Metropolis’s Man of Steel. Themyscira’s warrior princess. The Fastest Man Alive. The universe’s emerald guardian. Twenty questions stand between you and the truth. Answer honestly. Your destiny awaits.
🔥Batman
🌟Superman
⚔️Wonder Woman
⚡The Flash
🟢Green Lantern
01
You’re outnumbered and outgunned. What do you do? A hero’s instinct is defined in their darkest moment.
02
Your team disagrees with your plan. How do you handle it? Every Justice League member has their own idea of teamwork.
03
What does your hero identity mean to you? The mask — or the lack of one — says everything.
04
How do you typically make big decisions? A hero’s process shapes their outcome.
Someone you love is in danger. Your first move is: Crisis strips away everything but the truth.
19
Your power — where does it come from? Origin shapes destiny in the DC Universe.
20
The final battle. Everything is on the line. You: This is the moment that defines everything.
THE DC UNIVERSE HAS SPOKEN YOUR HERO IDENTITY
Your scores are shown below. The character with the highest number is your match. Read their description to discover which hero the universe chose for you.
🔥 Batman
🌟 Superman
⚔️ Wonder Woman
⚡ The Flash
🟢 Green Lantern
Disciplined, relentless, and driven by a grief that never fully heals. You’ve built yourself into something formidable not through luck or cosmic accident, but through sheer, grinding will. You plan further ahead than anyone else in the room and trust fewer of them. The darkness you carry isn’t weakness — it’s your greatest weapon, and your most dangerous blind spot. But beneath the armor, you still believe in justice. That belief is what separates you from the monsters you fight.
Powerful beyond measure, yet defined by your humility. You were raised to believe that the measure of a person is what they do with what they’re given — and you’ve taken that lesson to heart. The world looks to you as a symbol, and the weight of that is something you carry quietly. You could impose your will on everything, and you choose not to. That choice, made every day, is the most heroic thing about you.
A warrior forged in honor, guided by truth. You came to this world not born into its compromises, and that perspective gives you a clarity that cuts through politics, spin, and fear. You fight hard, hold the line without flinching, and refuse to let injustice be normalized around you. People are sometimes surprised by your compassion — they expect the sword and forget the heart it serves. You are both, in perfect, formidable balance.
Quick, warm, and far more capable than your jokes let on. You use humor as a shield and velocity as a solution, but your greatest gift isn’t speed — it’s heart. You feel everything deeply and act faster than most people think. The people around you don’t always realize how much you carry, how much you process in the quiet between seconds. You make the impossible look easy, and you do it without making anyone feel small for being slower than you.
Chosen because your will is extraordinary. The ring didn’t create you — it recognized you. Your power is literally your imagination and your resolve, which means your ceiling is whatever you believe it to be. You can be reckless, and you can be arrogant, but your capacity for growth is equally limitless. You operate on a cosmic scale but never forget the small things worth protecting. In the universe’s darkest sectors, you are the light.
Image via Disney
Eternals was a huge swing for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it adapted a group of characters that, even in the comics, don’t get as much attention as even the Inhumans. That said, the film was shot beautifully and tackled an emotional narrative about humanity and sacrifice.
Even still, at 156 minutes, the film asked a lot from the audience to stick around for over 10 new characters, and none of them got the development they needed. As a result, Eternals wasn’t the hit that Marvel expected, and the runtime keeps audiences from tuning in, even if the film isn’t actually bad.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Uses Its 161 Minutes to Explore Grief
Shuri makes her debut as Black Panther in Wakanda ForeverImage via Marvel Studios/Everett Collection
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever had a lot to deal with following the tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman and, as a result, the movie had to tackle that feeling of loss and turn it into a powerful message. The film explores real grief through fictional characters while elevating the world of Wakanda.
Seeing the new Black Panther and the introduction of Namor and his kingdom of Talokan was a sight, but the film makes the most of its 161-minute runtime and devotes it to a great character study. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever may feel long, but it doesn’t waste a single minute.
Watchmen Adapts Alan Moore’s Classic Tale in 163 Minutes
Watchmen’s Doctor Manhattan in the 2009 movie.Image via Warner Bros.
Zack Snyder’s Watchmen is a film that adapts Alan Moore’s story almost to a tee. In terms of imagery, the movie brought multiple panels to life but ultimately altered its outrageous ending. While it can be argued that not adding a personal voice to the film and only adapting a narrative leads to a dull film, there’s still a lot to enjoy.
That said, its 163-minute runtime also makes Watchmen a lot of content to sift through in a film that honestly should’ve been longer. It shows the true cost of adaptation and how certain messages can be lost in translation while delivering some genuinely beautiful frames.
The Dark Knight Rises Pushes Things Farther With Its 165 Minute Runtime
The Dark Knight Rises marked the end of Christopher Nolan’s highly grounded Batman trilogy, and it opted to go out with a bang. Loosely adapting The Dark Knight Returns and No Man’s Land, Bane represented the end of Gotham City after breaking the Bat in a near-perfect comic homage.
The film’s 165-minute runtime goes in many directions but aims to push the envelope on what a Batman movie can do and succeeds. It’s an ambitious film that makes Batman a soldier, and while it takes some time to get there, everyone can agree how exciting it is to see Batman take the fight to Bane.
The Batman Sets Up a Rich World in 176 Minutes
Image via Jonathan Olley / Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
The Batman marked a new direction for the Dark Knight, and it felt like a long time coming. The Matt Reeves film introduced a version of the character that was in the cowl for two years and embraced his detective background to tell a sprawling crime narrative.
Its 176-minute runtime is definitely on the long side and has slower moments that lead to some genuinely exciting scenes and characters like the Penguin, but ultimately, no scene is wasted in its larger narrative. The Batman tells a grounded story that embraces the character but offers something new.
Avengers: Endgame Finishes a Decade of Storytelling in a Brisk 181 Minutes
Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Marvel Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection
The Marvel Cinematic Universe was a feat of cinematic storytelling, not for the narrative itself but because a franchise could be built with over a dozen interconnected stories, and most of them earned near or surpassed $1 billion. As a result, Avengers: Endgame was the race to the finish line of the Infinity Saga.
Seeing the loss in Avengers: Infinity War gave Endgame a rallying cry for fans to right the wrongs of the past and take the fight to Thanos, and it managed to do it in 181 minutes that feel like a breeze to watch. It’s hard to keep people glued to the screen for over 2 hours, and yet Avengers: Endgame made it look like a piece of cake.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League Ties Up Loose Ends in a “Modest” 242 Minutes
The DC Extended Universe turned out to be a hot mess by the time Joss Whedon’s Justice League came out due to the sudden departure of Zack Snyder and his narrative. What resulted was a patchwork glimpse of what could have been that sparked a movement that led to the eventual creation of Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
For better or worse, the film uses its 242-minute runtime to tie up the loose ends left behind from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice while also setting up a future that would never come with cameos from heroes like the Martian Manhunter. Ultimately, it was a more cohesive version of the story, but being that it was a director’s cut, it took as much time as needed to tell its story, and some would argue far too much time.
