Marvel’s hidden kingdom is a bustling hive of activity.
Now that the Black Panther review embargo has broke, and critics have voiced their love and adoration for T’Challa’s origin story, the Internet is already hard at work uncovering clues as to who cameos in the Marvel tentpole – you know, besides Stan Lee – along with the pair of post-credits scenes tucked away at the tail-end of Ryan Coogler’s historic actioner.
Because make no mistake, with a predominantly African-American cast in tow, Black Panther is a powerful, diverse, and timely addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and we now have confirmation that it’ll run for 134 minutes. As reported by CBM, that makes it the longest MCU solo movie thus far – one minute shy of Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Overall, Black Panther ranks as the sixth-longest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, falling behind Captain America: Civil War (148 minutes), Age of Ultron (144 minutes), The Avengers (143 minutes), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (138 minutes), and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (136 minutes).
Speaking of Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier was last seen seeking sanctuary and asylum in Wakanda, the fictional utopia in which Black Panther takes place, and though Sebastian Stan’s anti-hero spends much of the film in a cryogenic chamber, he’ll be resurrected in time for Avengers: Infinity War.
Letitia Wright’s whip-smart scientist Shuri is the one responsible for rebooting Barnes, which involves creating a “one-to-one digital representation” of Bucky’s fractured brain. It’s seemingly enough to remove any trace of HYRDA, though whether Tony Stark can forgive the rejuvenated anti-hero is another question entirely.
All will be revealed once Avengers: Infinity War shoots into theaters on May 4th. And though there’s currently no mention of the sequel’s length, we imagine it’ll be much, much longer than Black Panther when all is said and done.