Justice League may be the shortest DC Extended Universe movie yet

It may be the epic team-up movie that the DC Extended Universe has been building toward, but it looks like ‘Justice League’ is set to be the shortest DCEU movie thus far.

While studio Warner Bros have yet to officially confirm the running time of the film from director Zack Snyder (whose reshoots and post-production were overseen by an uncredited Joss Whedon), various reports have noted that US cinema chains including AMC and Regal have listed ‘Justice League’ as clocking in at 121 minutes.

If accurate, this makes ‘Justice League’ 2 minutes shorter than ‘Suicide Squad,’ 20 minutes shorter than ‘Wonder Woman,’ 22 minutes shorter than ‘Man of Steel,’ and a full half-hour shorter than ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ (and that one was a full half hour longer in the director’s cut).

We might also note it’s 22 minutes less than the running time of Marvel’s ‘Avengers Assemble,’ written and directed by Joss Whedon.

Whether or not this running time is definitive, there’s little question that the theatrical release of ‘Justice League’ will leave a great deal of footage on the cutting room floor. It has been widely reported that, after ‘Batman V Superman’ didn’t fare as well with fans and critics as expected, the DCEU has been subject to a great deal of rejigging behind the scenes.

It is anticipated that the Whedon-directed reshoots have served to make ‘Justice League’ a more self-contained story than was initially intended, as well as giving it a lighter, more upbeat tone in line with that of ‘Wonder Woman,’ as opposed to the gloomier feel of Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Batman V Superman.’

Though not given official credit as a co-director, Whedon (who was brought on board when Snyder withdrew due a personal bereavement) has been credited alongside Chris Terrio as a screenwriter on ‘Justice League.’

‘Justice League’ will unite Ben Affleck’s Batman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and Henry Cavill’s Superman with comparative newcomers Ezra Miller as The Flash, Jason Momoa as Aquaman and Ray Fisher as Cyborg – all of whom had blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos in ‘Batman V Superman.’

There may also be at least one surprise extra character in store.

‘Justice League’ opens on 17 November.

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