Thor: Love and Thunder has finally hit theaters, marking the sixth film overall in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Like the film itself, this phase has been highly divisive, so much so that it can be hard to even compare these films anymore. By examining scores from sites like Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and IMDb, as well as traditional metrics like CinemaScore, it's possible to draw comparisons between critical hits like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: No Way Home and polarizing films like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Eternals.
Rotten Tomatoes Presents a General Critical Attitude
A common misconception about the online review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes is that its percentage scores reflect the quality of a film in the same way a percentage may reflect the grade of a school paper. On the contrary, Rotten Tomato scores are calculated based on how many positive or negative reviews a movie gets; a glowing 5-star review is accounted for no differently than a middling 2.5-star review. As such, it's a good metric for a film's general critical appeal. Of Love and Thunder's 406 accounted reviews, 66 percent of those were positive.
This places it firmly above Eternals (47 percent) and just below Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (74 percent) and Black Widow (79 percent). No Way Home has the highest critics score of Phase Four (93 percent), followed closely by Shang-Chi (91 percent). However, while Rotten Tomato scores are the most publicized valuation of a film's success (largely due to how the aforementioned misconceptions ultimately benefit the studio), they are far from the whole picture.
Metacritic Considers Quality of Review
Unlike Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic does take into account the quality of a review -- as a result, high, marketable scores are rare, but the quality is easier to discern. Love and Thunder's Metacritic score sits at 57, denoting "mixed" reviews, according to the site. Here, it still ranks higher than Eternals at 52, but the gap is far closer -- the same goes for Multiverse of Madness' 60. All three have the same "mixed" rating. Both Shang-Chi and No Way Home have a 71, while Black Widow holds a modest 67, all of which are considered "generally favorable" by Metacritic. Though the rankings are similar, the picture painted by these scores is far less stratified, inferring that Phase Four overall has received a lukewarm welcome.
CinemaScore Is a Tried and Trusted Audience Evaluation Method
CinemaScore is one of the industry's oldest valuation systems, its scores still reliably reflecting a film's box office potential by polling audiences as they exit the theater. It grades on a scale of A+ to F, though the evaluation method is so thorough it's hard for a film to achieve either limit of said scale; for a film to receive an F, it usually has to be perceived as being deliberately misleading or otherwise dishonest toward the audience.
Love and Thunder's score is tied with Multiverse of Madness for the second lowest CinemaScore in the MCU: B+. Until now, the only other MCU film to receive this score was 2011's Thor. The MCU film to receive the lowest score ever was, predictably, Eternals, standing alone at B. Black Widow has a score of A-, which is respectable but uncommon for an MCU film, and Shang-Chi earned the standard A given to most generally appealing films. Spider-Man: No Way Home became the fourth film in the MCU and the second non-Avengers film to receive a rare A+, following in the footsteps of Black Panther. These scores are evidence of a remarkable separation between half of the MCU's fourth phase and the entirety of its film catalog.
IMDb Has More Reliable Audience Reactions
IMDb is useful for gauging widespread online audience reactions. Though Rotten Tomatoes has a similar metric via its audience score, the site is far more subject to review bombs or other manipulations due to its highly publicized nature. Love and Thunder's IMDb score is a modest 6.8/10, placing it above both Eternals (6.3) and, surprisingly, Black Widow (6.7) (though it should be noted that genre films starring women and actors of color tend to receive unfair scores on public review sites). Multiverse of Madness' 7.0 is just 0.2 higher, making it the closest gap between Love and Thunder and a better-reviewed MCU film. Shang-Chi has a decent 7.4, while No Way Home triumphs with a very solid 8.3. Though it should be taken with a grain of salt, it certainly does appear that the general audience response to Love and Thunder is comparable -- and possibly superior -- to other MCU films.
Conclusion: Love and Thunder Is Second-to-Last
Though its box office has held strong, Marvel Studios has taken a critical hit during this phase. Based on this relatively consistent data, it's safe to say that Thor: Love and Thunder ranks second to last in MCU's Phase Four, comfortably above Eternals and close behind Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Another takeaway is that while audiences overwhelming feel that Spider-Man: No Way Home is the top Phase Four film, the critical assessment places it much closer -- if not on the same level -- as Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. It will be incredibly interesting to see where Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ranks among these films when it releases later this year.
Marvel Studios' Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing in theaters.