The Russo Bros. Tease AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY Saying It Has a “Very Surprising Ending”

Directors Joe Russo and Anthony Russo have shared a few interesting details about Avengers: Doomsday, including its current runtime and what audiences can expect from its ending.

The movie is sitting at roughly two and a half hours, and according to the Russos, its finale is going to catch people off guard.

That 150-minute runtime would actually make Doomsday considerably shorter than Avengers: Endgame, which ran just over three hours. Considering the enormous collection of Marvel characters involved this time around, squeezing everything into two and a half hours sounds like quite the juggling act.

While talking to Fandango about managing such a massive cast without losing the central story, Anthony Russo explained:

"It's a two and a half hour movie or so, and you're sitting through it, and it's a focused propulsive narrative that has like an organizing principle at its center, and everything has to orbit around that. That's part of the creative challenge for Joe and I – just figuring out how that what that orbit is and how it all smashes together."

The runtime puts Doomsday closer to several other lengthy MCU movies. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever clocked in at 161 minutes, Eternals ran 156 minutes, and Avengers: Infinity War came in at 149 minutes.

Of course, the runtime could still change before the movie reaches theaters, but the Russos clearly aren't looking to stretch this thing out simply because they're dealing with another giant Marvel crossover.

Then there's the ending. Anyone who remembers walking out of Infinity War knows these directors are perfectly comfortable sending audiences home with their jaws on the floor.

Joe Russo isn't revealing what Doomsday has planned, but he made it clear that audiences shouldn't expect the movie to play out exactly how they think it will.

"I think people are going to be surprised," Joe Russo teased. "It's a very surprising ending. It's a very surprising movie and that's all we'll say about it."

With Doctor Doom at the center of this next massive MCU event and so many characters coming together, there are plenty of ways the Russos could pull the rug out from under audiences. They're obviously keeping the specifics locked down, which is probably for the best.

The directors have also confirmed that the bonus material from the Endgame Encore theatrical release won't be incorporated into Doomsday. Those scenes added roughly four minutes to Endgame, and fans who want the full context connecting that material to the next major Avengers crossover will need to have seen it in theaters.

For now, a roughly two-and-a-half-hour Avengers movie with a finale the directors are calling "very surprising" gives Marvel fans plenty to speculate about without spoiling whatever insanity is coming.

Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters December 16.