Wednesday 6 July 2022 12:42 AM Thor: Love and Thunder reviews are largely positive trends now

The first wave of reviews are in for Marvel Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder, and while they're largely positive... it's clear many critics thought it was a step back from 2017's wildly-beloved Thor: Ragnarok. 

Marvel has typically given their major characters three stand-alone movies, but that changed after Thor: Ragnarok ($853 million worldwide, 93% on Rotten Tomatoes) vastly out-performed its predecessors, 2011's Thor ($449 million worldwide, 77% on RT) and 2013's Thor: The Dark World ($644.7 million worldwide, 66% on RT).

Box office projections have been strong for Thor: Love and Thunder - with analysts predicting anywhere from $150 million to $200 million, though those expectations may be tempered with lukewarm reviews, with a 72% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

While the RT rating will certainly fluctuate between now and the July 8 opening, the 72% mark represents quite a downturn compared to Thor: Ragnarok's 93% rating.

The original Thor earned a 77% rating in 2011 while 2013's Thor: The Dark World - which many fans think is one of the MCU's worst - earned a 66% rating, which for years was the worst RT rating until 2021's Eternals became the MCU's first 'rotten' movie on RT.

As for Thor: Love and Thunder, 125 reviews have been submitted to Rotten Tomatoes since the review embargo broke on Tuesday, with 90 Fresh and 35 Rotten.

Variety's Owen Gleiberman was among the critic community's biggest fans, branding the sequel the 'critic's pick' for the week.

'The climactic battle, with its shadow monsters, its children caught in the cross-hairs, and its all-for-one exuberance, has a tingly grandeur, and by the end I felt something unusual enough to feel at a Marvel movie that it seemed almost otherworldly: I was moved,'

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