The longest Marvel Cinematic Universe trilogy to come out of the original Avenger team roster makes one fitting Avengers: Endgame hero ending even more perfect than it already was. A wide selection of Marvel heroes have now claimed the privilege of having a movie trilogy thanks to the MCU’s expansive runtime, with many of the longest films in the MCU timeline belonging to the finales of much-lauded arcs.

However, the original Avengers’ own trilogies are in many ways still the most interesting, partially as they kicked off the expansive franchise, and partially as the emotional connection audiences forged with the characters still hold fast for countless people today, even years after some of these stories ultimately concluded. Ultimately, this makes one Avenger’s record of having the longest trilogy out of the original roster all the more poignant, even as upcoming MCU releases move more away from their story.

Captain America’s MCU Trilogy Runtime Makes His Endgame Ending Even More Fitting

Captain America’s Longer Runtime Makes His Retirement More Perfect

Out of all of the original Avengers, Captain America’s MCU trilogy is longest by a considerable chunk. Black Widow, Hulk and Hawkeye didn’t get their own trilogies, putting them immediately out of the running, and Thor’s initial movie trilogy is one of the franchise’s shortest, coming in at just shy of 6 hours. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this puts the competition for longest trilogy between Iron Man and Captain America, but with Tony’s franchise-starting series equaling 6 hours and 20 minutes, Steve’s trilogy wins the race, with a healthy 6 hours and 47 minutes in its own runtime.

Captain America having this runtime adds another dimension to his Endgame ending by serving as a real world reflection of his extensive superhero career, further justifying Steve’s decision to finally retire and give the shield to Sam Wilson as his successor. While many reactions to Rogers’ MCU ending were that of a sadness that he wouldn’t continue to be on-screen, the runtime of the original Captain America trilogy also makes it clear that the franchise made the movie series as long as it could viably be without overextending, softening the blow for those who would miss him the most.

Why Captain America Has The Longest Original MCU Avenger Trilogy Runtime

Captain America’s Movie Stories Have Always Needed A Healthy Runtime

The premise and plot of Captain America: Civil War alone suggests why Steve’s MCU trilogy is the longest in the original Avenger roster, as it’s ostensibly an Avengers movie that happens to focus a little more on Steve and his conflict with Iron Man over how the Avengers and Marvel heroes more broadly should operate. However, the original Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier also weren’t particularly short films.

Captain America: The First Avenger is the shortest of the trilogy, but even then is over two hours long. This arguably had to be the case, since the initial movie had to give the entire context of Steve’s time in WW2 and his move to modern day, which would have been disastrous to rush.

Similarly, Captain America: The Winter Soldier required a level of nuance in its depiction of Bucky and his forced turn to villainy that would make audiences ultimately empathize with the character even as they rooted for Steve Rogers. Since this needed to be balanced with some not inconsiderable setting up for Civil War and the initial dissolution of the original Avengers group, it also couldn’t have shied away on its runtime either without risking sabotaging the wider MCU and its plans for the future.

Captain America’s MCU Series Runtime Is Set To Continue Its Record

Captain America: Brave New World Can Bring A Runtime Record Back From Thor

Captain America: Brave New World‘s release will mark it as one of two MCU solo series to have gotten a fourth movie so far, with the other being Thor via Thor: Love & Thunder. Since Thor is already one of the shorter MCU trilogies – and Thor: Love & Thunder is one of the franchise’s shorter movies to boot – there is rife potential for Captain America: Brave New World to draw back the record of longest overall runtime for a series featuring an original Avenger title, which would be fitting a trophy for Sam Wilson’s movie debut in the hero mantle.