13. Most Are Far Too Long
Warner Bros.This isn't just true of comic book movies, but blockbusters in general. If a movie can hold our attention for 120-130 minutes, that's pretty good going, but some directors have pushed the boat out and crafted mega-epic tentpole flicks that run dangerously close to 3 hours. Just look at the last few years of comic book movies and their respective run-times: The Dark Knight Rises (165m), Watchmen (162m), The Dark Knight (152m), Man of Steel (143m), The Avengers (143m), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (142m) and Batman Begins (140m). While the majority of these movies were, in fairness, actually pretty damn good, it's fair to say that escapism begins to give way to exhaustion once movies cross the 140 minute mark, especially when a plethora of explosions are involved. When directors are trying to weave intricate, time-spanning stories as with The Dark Knight Rises, a long run-time seems acceptable, though with rare, franchise-bookending exceptions aside, movies like X-Men: Days of Future Past (131m), Iron Man 3 (130m), The Wolverine (126m) and Captain America: The First Avenger (124m) seem to have the balance pretty much right. It's enough time to tell a tight story, but not enough that it begins to feel saggy. Of course, no good movie is too long and no bad movie is too short, so the idea of imposing an all-catch rule on run-times is ridiculous, even if snappy editing and lithe plotting is always going to be welcomed.