Thor: Ragnarok was considered to be the best Thor franchise when it was released in 2017. With the great success it achieved, fans were excited when a sequel was announced to the ever growing franchise. It was expected that the sequel will keep up the pace and maybe surpass the 1 billion dollar mark in box office. But unfortunately, it failed to meet up to expectations when released in July, 2022.

With Thor: Ragnarok garnering 854 million USD in the box office and Thor: Love And Thunder earning 760.9 million USD. It is obvious which movie did better, but average values for the gross of both movies puts Thor: Love And Thunder above Thor: Ragnarok. 

Being the fourth Thor movie to be out, Thor: Love And Thunder showed Thor’s adventure on his journey to save the Gods of the realm from being vanquished, by fighting Gorr the God Butcher who is the villain in this movie. Despite the hype before its release, it would however seem that fans were a bit disappointed, with low ratings gotten at 63% on Rotten Tomatoes and 6.3/10 on IMDb, when compared with Thor: Ragnarok which had a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.9/10 rating on IMDb. 

Both movies were directed by Taika Waititi, but as no one can be said to be perfect, Thor: Ragnarok had a better reception due to it having a better quality to its sequel, Thor: Love And Thunder. And here are some few reasons why;

The Thor Vs Hulk Fight

Who the strongest Avenger is has always sparked the interest and raised a debate among MCU fans, with a lot of mixed answers and reviews coming from theories and all. With the Avengers spaceship recognizing Hulk as the strongest Avenger, one can’t be so sure on trusting a ship to have the final say on one of the greatest mysteries in the MCU. In the same vein, the matchup between Thor and Hulk could have easily put a rest to the debate with Thor drawing out his full potential to almost steal a win from Hulk, but the interferance from the grandmaster made this impossible. However the case may be, it is without a doubt recognized that this was the most thrilling fight which Thor has ever given his fans and by far proves better than his fight scenes in Thor: Love And Thunder.

Perfect Balance Of Humor And Action

Thor: Ragnarok introduced fans to the comedic side of Thor and it was a well received gesture which took the pace of the movie to a whole new level. Although also present in Thor: Love And Thunder, the former stood out more and was better due to a factor called “Balance”. With the overly use of comedy in Thor: Love And Thunder, there seemed to be a disconnect in their attempt to thrill the audience and this led to the show becoming rather boring than amusing. As comedy isn’t an easy feat to pull, Thor: Ragnarok set a standard in balancing comedy and action which the producers and directors of the show weren’t able to replicate or improve in Thor: Love And Thunder.

The Villains Present

When compared in the roles they were written to portray, Hela who is Thor’s sister and the villain in Thor: Ragnarok, was a daughter coming to take revenge on her father for pushing her aside after she’d helped him achieve all glory, while Gorr was an individual who was granted the power to kill gods and sought out for a revenge on all gods across the realms for their failure to keep his daughter alive. Looking at the scale of both stories, Gorr in Thor: Love And Thunder should have been a better choice on the most thrilling to watch as his character should have a grander scale of battle, but what was showcased to fans was too appalling to say the least when compared with Thor: Ragnarok which provided amazing fight scenes from Hela with more blood spilled and ruthless means of murder exploited as befitting of a true villain.

Loki Laufeyson

Loki has always shown to be one of the most interesting characters in the Thor franchise and his back and forth relationship with Thor has always been one fans have enjoyed over years. It is without a doubt that Loki and his charming presence was sincerely missed in Thor:love and thunder. After all, what is a Thor movie without loki. 

Final Thoughts

The Thor franchise still seems to have future projects in sight and if the MCU wants to keep fans on their toes for the next sequel. They need to do their homework on some of these areas. 

What areas do you think the MCU needs to do more for our Norse god Thor. Feel free to drop your comments below.