Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo explain why the 4-hour extended cut of the Marvel movie will never be released to the public. The Russo brothers joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2014 on Captain America: The Winter Soldier and returned for the 2016 sequel, Captain America: Civil War. The success of these two films, particularly the latter which was a massive team-up event, resulted in the Russos being chosen as directors of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, two of the most successful movies of all time.

Released in April 2019, Endgame served as the epic conclusion to the MCU's Infinity Saga. With a 3-hour runtime and one of the most impressive ensemble casts ever assembled for a feature film, Endgame capped off several story arcs for original Avengers, including Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Widow. Through the Avengers time-heist, the film also revisited several key moments from past MCU movies. Even though Endgame released in theaters three years ago, fans often still have questions about the monumental MCU movie, such as a potential longer cut.

Related: Thor's MCU Ending Can Do The 1 Thing Iron Man's Endgame Death Failed At

Appearing on WIRED's Autocomplete Interview, the Russo brothers responded to a question about releasing a 6-hour cut of Endgame. Anthony says a "super cut of Infinity War and Endgame" would probably run for 6 hours, however Joe reveals the longest cut of Endgame they ever had was 3 hours and 40 minutes. Joe went on to say he fully approves of those extra 40 minutes being cut and therefore, the theatrical version is essentially the director's cut. Read what the Russo bros shared below:

Joe Russo: I think the longest we've ever had it was like 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Anthony Russo: If we did a super cut of Infinity War and Endgame, there'd probably be. Could probably, between the two. It could be a six hour cut.

Joe Russo: I think those 40 minutes deserve to be on the editing floor. You have the directors cut. That's it. There's nothing else, sorry.

To date, there has never been a director's cut of an MCU film for one simple reason – they simply haven't been necessary. This is despite increased calls for director's cuts of Thor: Love and Thunder and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and, though Taika Waititi and Sam Raimi have expressed no interest in such. Generally, an extended director's cut is released when the original cut is deemed ineffective or incomplete by fans, such as in the case of Zack Snyder's Justice League.

Endgame, however, is universally beloved by critics, fans, and is the second highest-grossing movie of all time behind only Avatar. There is virtually no good reason for Marvel to release a director's cut of Endgame, especially since the trimmed down 3-hour theatrical version is the Russos' preferred cut. For those wondering what additional footage a hypothetical 4-hour cut might include, a few of Avengers: Endgame's deleted scenes have been released online.

Next: Marvel Secretly Broke Hulk’s Endgame Time Travel Rules In Phase 4

Source: WIRED

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