It’s always interesting to see the discrepancies between critics and fans when it comes to the merits of Marvel Cinematic Universe content, but general audiences are often the overlooked third part of the equation, and they haven’t been left too impressed by this weekend’s debuting Thor: Love and Thunder.
Taika Waititi’s return to New Asgard has been slipping downwards on Rotten Tomatoes for days now, with the current consensus placing it an underwhelming 67 percent, barely ahead of the maligned Thor: The Dark World, and level with The Incredible Hulk. However, the user rating sits much higher at 82 percent, so it’s definitely appealing to the core demographic of MCU diehards.
While there’s no way to gauge how the public at large feels about Love and Thunder, CinemaScore at least plays a part in presenting a broad opinion. In the case of the Odinson’s latest outing, though, things aren’t looking to great. On paper, a B+ is a million miles away from being a disaster, but that still makes it one of the MCU’s lowest-rated installments ever.
Eternals ranks as the only chapter in the long-running superhero saga to score lower with a B rating, with Love and Thunder now on level terms with Kenneth Branagh’s Thor, and May’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. The fact that three of the four lowest-rated MCU movies have arrived in the last seven months could be a cause for concern, especially when Phase Four has been coming under fire for appealing more to staunch MCU supporters than Joe Public, their partner, and 2.4 kids.