History YMMV / ThorLoveAndThunder

* ContestedSequel: While almost all fans agree the film is not as good as ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', it remains contested because fans are split on whether or not the movie is still good in its own right. It's either another breezy, fun continuation of Thor's character that both salvages Jane and has some inspiring and charming scenes or an utter disappointment that re-does ''Ragnarok'' wrong (particularly regarding how the movie simultaneously adds a sad plot and [[MoodWhiplash undercuts it with jokes]]), with a number saying that it's worse than ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld''.

** One of the most common criticisms of the film from professional critics is that [[ItsTheSameSoItSucks it's too similar]] to ''Thor: Ragnarok'', particularly in its heavy use of MoodWhiplash and {{Bathos}} (a technique Taika Waititi has also utilized with other films like ''Film/JojoRabbit'', as well as something present in other Marvel movies). Those elements were already fairly divisive among viewers of ''Ragnarok'', but were mostly tolerated because the movie was on the whole seen as a breath of fresh air for the flagging first two ''Thor'' films, [[SelfDeprecation especially as they mocked aspects that were unpopular or otherwise unengaging in them]]. This isn't so much the case a second time around, where it feels that ''everything'' is being made fun of for the sake of a cheap gag, thus making it hard to get invested in anything that's happening.

* HilariousInHindsight: In the ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'' episode ''The Tattler'', the character Gina falsely claimed to be a write for the ''Thor'' movies and promised more "full-frontal nudity" in the then-upcoming 4th movie, only for one of the more infamous scenes in the film to be just that- Chris Hemsworth's Thor being stripped naked in front of an entire arena.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: A number of fans have complained that it would have been preferable if the character called "The God Butcher" was actually shown, you know, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin butchering a few more gods]] on screen. Putting aside blink-and-you'll-miss-it reports of his exploits, during the entire run of the film, he is seen killing ''exactly one'' god (the first one, and that one was arguably in self-defense), and only one other victim is shown, post-mortem.

* ItsTheSameSoItSucks: Many of the film's detractors have criticized the film for continuing to use the large amounts of MoodWhiplash and {{Bathos}} that were present in previous Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse films (as well as Creator/TaikaWaititi's other films), feeling that it has gotten stale and undercuts the dramatic moments too much.

** Some people prefer the more benevolent and wise Zeus that appears before Thor on Earth to bestow him his Thunderbolt in deleted scenes that surfaced online, rather than the decadent and cowardly jackass he's shown to be in the final cut.

* PoisonOakEpilepticTrees: A common depressing fan theory is that Jane's cancer was caused by [[Film/ThorTheDarkWorld her housing within her body one of the Infinity Stones]], which are explicitly radioactive.

* MagnificentBastard: [[Characters/MCUGorr Gorr the God Butcher]] was once a loyal worshipper of his people's god Rapu. However, when most of his people die--including Gorr's young daughter, Love--Rapu is revealed to be nothing but a [[JerkassGods callous jerk]]. An enraged Gorr is chosen by the [[ArtifactOfDoom Necrosword]], which can kill gods, and after [[KillTheGod killing Rapu]], decides that [[RageAgainstTheHeavens all gods must die]]. Gorr starts his crusade, kidnapping the children of New Asgard to use as bait for [[Characters/MCUThor Thor]], later realizing that Thor's Stormbreaker axe is the key to reaching the wish-granting cosmic entity Eternity, which will allow him to kill all the gods in one fell swoop. After hurting Thor's friends to force him to recall Stormbreaker, Gorr manages to obtain the axe before Thor and company can retreat. In the final battle, even though Jane Foster uses Mjolnir to destroy the Necrosword, Gorr manages to reach Eternity. However, after being told by Thor that all he wants is love and actually seeing the love between Thor and a dying Jane, Gorr uses his wish to resurrect his daughter, dying happily after Thor agrees to raise Love.

* ContestedSequel: While almost all fans agree the film is not as good as ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', it remains contested because fans are split on whether or not the movie is still good in its own right. It's either another breezy, fun continuation of Thor's character that both salvages Jane and has some inspiring and charming scenes or an utter disappointment that re-does ''Ragnarok'' wrong (particularly regarding how the movie simultaneously adds a sad plot and [[MoodWhiplash undercuts it with jokes]]).

** Thor tells Sif that surviving until after the battle was done but still being mortally injured would be enough to deny her Valhalla, convincing her to go with him to get medical attention, even though we later see that Valhalla's rules are not so strict and unforgiving as they let [[spoiler:Jane enter]]. Was this really Thor's understanding of the rules and he was actually just misinformed, or was he lying to convince Sif to save her life instead of needlessly accepting her death? Per the actual Viking belief system, you only had to be a warrior who dies holding a weapon (so if you died of illness or old age, you could still pass on so long as you were given an axe to hold as you died, but if you were disarmed and then died in battle or if you abandoned the fight to flee before you were killed, you were denied entry), so the strictness of this ruling is unlikely to be the interpretation Thor would have believed, given his somewhat idealistic view on things. Thor has also talked Sif out of accepting death in battle in the past so there's precedence in the fact he doesn't view death in such a positive regard when it comes to his loved ones. One could also argue for a more metaphorical interpretation: [[spoiler:Jane dies ''battling'' cancer]]. Another possible explanation is mindset. Sif was just laying there going "I'm dying, oh well", whereas [[spoiler: Jane fights to the very end, willingly taking that risk of death]]

** [[spoiler:While he doesn't ultimately die]], watching [[spoiler:Zeus]] getting ran through [[spoiler:by his own Lightning Bolt]] by Thor after close to ''ten minutes'' of enduring his bombastic, selfish, cynical and cowardly indifference towards Gorr's rampage is ''equally'' as satisfying, especially after he [[spoiler:seemingly killed Korg. Thankfully he gets better too]].

** A surprising number of elements in the film feel like they came from ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' series, or at least demonstrate what that franchise could look like if it was adapted right. Unlike the Asgardians, the Olympians and other gods are shown to bleed a golden ichor-like liquid, which naturally allows the film to have the ''bloodiest'' fight in the MCU as a result of this. Zeus is a JerkassGod of the highest order without any of his modernised AdaptationalHeroism he's often gifted, having ImmortalImmaturity and HeadInTheSandManagement that prompts him to deny a rising threat rather than deal with it, and his "Lightning bolt" is depicted as a literal solid weapon, a highly destructive spear in the shape of a lightning bolt. The BigBad is on a quest to kill the gods after a massive BrokenPedestal situation and is armed with a named weapon that is specifically made to kill gods, but makes the user SecretlyDying as a result. And finally, we have the children of gods fighting monsters using enchanted weapons and displaying superhuman abilities (albeit, after being gifted the power of Thor by Thor himself).

* OvershadowedByControversy: A minor example of this occured after initial production wrapped in June 2021. Tabloids photographed Director Creator/TaikaWaititi in a "three way kiss" with one of the film's stars, Creator/TessaThompson and his eventual wife, Music/RitaOra. Waititi would later defended himself over the kiss, saying he "did nothing wrong".

** Zeus. Either he's [[LoveToHate hilariously dick-ish]] due to Creator/RussellCrowe's performance and is a [[TruerToTheText surprisingly accurate portrayal of him]] by modern day standards, or he's so extremely annoying that the writers should have just gone with the usual EverybodyLovesZeus portrayal of him instead. A third group is fine with him being portrayed as a {{Jerkass}} hedonist, but just wish that either his jerkassery wasn't too over-the-top to the point of annoyance or was given [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold a few more redeeming qualities]] to balance it out.

** Zeus. Either he's [[LoveToHate hilariously dick-ish]] due to Creator/RussellCrowe's performance and is a [[TruerToTheText surprisingly accurate portrayal of him]] by modern day standards, or he's so extremely annoying that the writers should have just gone with the usual EverybodyLovesZeus portrayal of him instead.

** Quite a number of ''Guardians'' fans were frustrated with Star-Lord constantly being the butt of jokes amongst his teammates in ''Infinity War'' and ''Endgame'', namely for being inferior to Thor in every way and having him act childishly and incompetent due to feeling insecure about it. Here, Quill's maturity and leadership abilities are significantly better, and his teammates don't punch down on his shortcomings at all while working together ([[TheThingThatWouldNotLeave in part because they have long gotten sick of Thor themselves]]). Quill and Thor also have a much more mutually respectful relationship, with Quill legitimately trying to give the God of Thunder advice (even if it blows up in Thor's face later) as they part on amicable terms.

** Another complaint people had about this film was the gratuitous use of music from TheEighties. Ragnarok previously utilized "[[Music/LedZeppelin Immigrant Song]]" as Thor's main theme for the film, which was considered to be an inspired choice since it's about Vikings being badass. This film tried to expand upon this by making much of the non-OST soundtrack 80s rock and pop tunes, much like with the ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' movies. But instead of finding music that pertains to the story and its themes, it primarily consists of the most popular songs in the Music/GunsNRoses discography, which have faced so much exposure they do little to give the film its own identity[[note]]Covers of "Sweet Child o Mine" were featured in ''Film/BigDaddy'', ''Last House On The Left'' and ''Film/LifeAsWeKnowIt'', while the original was in ''Film/TheWrestler''. "Welcome to the Jungle" was in a few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'', ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoNinjagoMovie'', and ''Film/JumanjiWelcomeToTheJungle''[[/note]].

** Quite a number of ''Guardians'' fans were also frustrated with Star-Lord constantly being the butt of jokes amongst his teammates for being inferior to Thor and generally acting childish and incompetent due to feeling insecure. Here, Quill's maturity and leadership abilities are significantly better, and his teammates don't punch down on his shortcomings at all while working together ([[TheThingThatWouldNotLeave in part because they themselves have long gotten sick of Thor themselves]]). Quill and Thor also have a much more mutually respectful relationship, with Quill legitimately trying to give the God of Thunder advice (even if it blows up in Thor's face later) as they part on amicable terms.

* EnsembleDarkHorse: Bao, the god of dumplings, despite only appearing twice for a few seconds on Omnipotence City, caught audience's eyes because of its adorable toylike design.

** Zeus is depicted pretty much exactly as his mythic counterpart, a JerkassGod and all, but more notably its shown he's accompanied not just with female concubines, but male ones, too, who -- given their reaction to Thor's naked form -- appear to be attracted to men in case there was any doubt as to what they were there for. Zeus' bisexuality is less stated compared to other traits of his, as well as compared to the bisexuality of other Greek heroes that is now commonly more noted.

** Thor is able to [[spoiler:temporarily imbue the children of Asgard with his powers]]. The film not only doesn't explain how he can suddenly do this, but also doesn't explain how he ''knows'' he can do this, because he's never tried it before and nothing happens that would suggest to him it was possible. While seeing Jane wielding Mjolnir and taking on his powers may have made him realize [[spoiler:other people than him could wield his powers through his weapons]], it's still a big jump from there to "[[spoiler:use Zeus' Thunderbolt to grant my powers to the children of Asgard, who are wielding whatever debris and toys they can find as their weapons.]]"

* FandomHeresy: Saying positive things about this movie or mentioning it in either Twitter or Reddit is a very dangerous thing to do considering Creator/TaikaWaititi's tarnished reputation in the MCU. Do yourself a favor and don't speak of it unless you want detractors of this film doing the same thing that Thor did to Thanos in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'').

* FandomHeresy: Saying positive things about this movie or mentioning it in either Twitter or Reddit is a very dangerous thing to do considering Creator/TaikaWaititi's tarnished reputation in the MCU. Do yourself a favor and don't speak of it unless you want detractors of this film doing the same thing that Thor did to Thanos in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'').

* FandomHersey: Saying positive things about this movie or mentioning it in either Twitter or Reddit is a very dangerous thing to do considering Creator/TaikaWaititi's tarnished reputation in the MCU. Do yourself a favor and don't speak of it unless you want detractors of this film doing the same thing that Thor did to Thanos in ''[[Film/AvengersEndgame]]'').