Thor: Love and Thunder / YMMV

Adorkable: Somehow becoming a buff demigod made Jane Foster even more of a dork as she is now excitedly trying to work out a catchphrase and is, according to Valkyrie, not very good at the non-combat side of being a superhero. Definitely makes you understand why Thor's interest in her is renewed.
Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Were the goats really a gift of thanks, or were they meant to be White Elephants in stealthy revenge for Thor accidentally destroying the temple? The line about 'no backsies' implies the latter, but this brings up another question of whether it was revenge or just some terrifying giant goats they were desperate to get rid of and thought (correctly) Thor would like?
- When Thor awkwardly stands in front of Star-Lord's gaze while talking about looking at the ones you love (with him looking towards his team, before Thor stood in between them), is it simply Thor's No Social Skills at work and him being comically awkward, or is he generally attracted to Quill and was misreading that this declaration of love was for him? Given the amount of queerness in the movie and the apparent normalisation of bisexuality among Gods, Thor/Peter is not unquestionable, even if one-sided.
- Was Jane really worthy of lifting and wielding Mjolnir, or did it sense she was dying from cancer and the only way it could obey Thor's command to protect her from that was to allow her to wield it? In the comics, Thor is able to will others to be able to wield Mjolnir in spite of its enchantment, so it's plausible he may have unconsciously done the same here.
- 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 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: Jane dies battling cancer. Another possible explanation is mindset. Sif was just laying there going "I'm dying, oh well", whereas Jane fights to the very end, willingly taking that risk of death.
- How much did the Necrosword affect Gorr? Did it take over his mind and force him to be evil, or did it just influence him and build on his already-existing anger and despair?
- Bast can be seen on Omnipotence City. Considering the place and its residents' true nature, does this mean that Wakanda is obliviously worshiping a selfish hedonist who doesn't give a shit about them? Or is she one of the better gods and has a different, less awful, reason for being there (since we don't see her agreeing with Zeus)? The fact that she was supposedly imprisoned by the Ennead only muddles the confusion.
Ass Pull:
- Mjolnir reforms itself when Jane approaches it without any explanation of how or why beyond Thor previously giving Mjolnir the command to protect Jane, which doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would allow Mjolnir to rebuild itself from shrapnel. The film also doesn't explain how, if Mjolnir is able to do this, it didn't previously reform itself after Hela destroyed it.
- Thor is able to 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 other people than him could wield his powers through his weapons, it's still a big jump from there to "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." ^note
Awesome Ego: Thor at the beginning of the film. He's so full of himself that he takes superheroing like a chore to do like taking out the trash, the Guardians are clearly fed up with dealing with him, and Thor is a bit disrespectful to those he saves. On the other hand, he's back in shape after Endgame and is emotionally healing from that film, and the Asgardians are doing well too, so Thor is at the top of his game and at the peak of his life in more ways than one. Seeing him open up a can of One-Man Army on his foes like it's nothing is very satisfying.
Badass Decay: Some viewers felt this with Thor himself in this film. While Thor had been leaning towards a more comedic personality ever since Ragnarok, here his childish moments and relatively poor decision-making skills were pushed to the fore, to the point where it can feel like he only wins through sheer dumb luck.
Base-Breaking Character:
- Thor himself. Thanks to the film doubling down on his personality from Ragnarok, fans are divided on sticking with this approach after the events of Avengers: Endgame. Some found him to be charming and a nice refresh to return to his old ways after overcoming his personal demons in Endgame, making it more compelling when new trauma in his life makes him question his positivity. Others found his flippant, egotistical personality to be more annoying than awesome, with some going as far as to say his characterization is even worse than he was in the first Thor film pre-Character Development.
- Though he became a celebrated Ensemble Dark Horse in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Endgame, Korg very quickly became a lot more polarizing in this film. Due to his increased screentime, Korg's witty remarks, Cloudcuckoolander personality and tendency to make fun of rather serious situations went from being charming and interesting to obnoxious and grating for many fans. Others still found Korg's antics amusing (particularly since he was already a comic-relief character to begin with) and appreciated him getting more screentime.
- Many fans shared the Guardians' feelings on Toothgrinder and Toothgnasher, as they do little to justify their incessant and obnoxious screaming throughout the movie, not helped by the fact their screams were taken from a viral video that was over a decade old by that point. However, there are some defenders who thought they were hilarious, mostly because they were supposed to be annoying and get on the other characters' nerves.
- Zeus. Either he's hilariously dick-ish due to Russell Crowe's performance and is a 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 Everybody Loves Zeus 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 a few more redeeming qualities to balance his dick-ishness out.
Broken Base: Jane retaining her comics origin of having cancer while using Mjolnir is a very touchy subject. Some fans thought the plot point was genuinely tragic and emotional, gave the film some legitimate stakes, and also got people invested in Jane more than the previous movies ever did for her. Others found the incorporation of cancer into the story clashed greatly with the film's irreverent and humoresque tone, given how it's a very real disease that people have struggled to fight, and is primarily glossed over in favor of jokes and action in this film.
Cargo Ship: Invoked with Thor/Mjolnir and Thor/Stormbreaker, due to Thor's jealousy over Mjolnir becoming Jane's weapon and Stormbreaker acting up over Thor's obvious retaining attachment. Continues further when Thor compliments Lightningbolt (Zeus' weapon) and Stormbreaker gets mad enough Thor feels the need to assure them they're still appreciated.
Catharsis Factor:
- Gorr using the Necrosword to carve up Rapu like a rotten watermelon, after watching him mock the death and suffering of his people and his daughter, then torturing him to death just for answering back.
- While he doesn't ultimately die, watching Zeus getting run through 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 seemingly killed Korg. Thankfully he gets better too.
Contested Sequel: While almost all fans agree the film is not as good as Thor: Ragnarok, 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 undercuts it with jokes), with a number saying that it's worse than Thor: The Dark World, which at least took the character and dramatic moments seriously.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Bao, the god of dumplings, despite only appearing twice for a few seconds on Omnipotence City, caught audience's eyes because of their adorable toylike design.
Evil Is Cool: One of the most praised parts of the film is Christian Bale's cool, creepy, and even sympathetic performance. Even people who didn't like the film tend to at least like Gorr.
Fan Nickname: Fans have noted the irony that someone named Christian Bale would play the God Butcher, leading to the name "Atheist Bale" or "Agnostic Bale" for Gorr.
Fan-Preferred Cut Content:
- A lot of fans were severely disappointed that many of Gorr's actual butchering of gods never made it into the movie, especially since some of those scenes would've had the likes of King Eitri and the Grandmaster reappearing.
- Some people prefer the more benevolent and wise, though still comedic, 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.
Franchise Original Sin:
- One of the most common criticisms of the film from professional critics is that it's too similar to Thor: Ragnarok, particularly in its heavy use of Mood Whiplash and Bathos (a technique Taika Waititi has also utilized with other films like Jojo Rabbit, 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, 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.
- Another complaint people had about this film was the gratuitous use of music from The '80s. Ragnarok previously utilized "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 Guns N' Roses discography, which have faced so much exposure they do little to give the film its own identity^note.
- Thor in this film is often criticized for being too foolish, having a huge ego and only striking into serious fights for fun. Thor actually used to have that same attitude in the first movie (and to a lesser extent, What If...?), which people were accepting of at the time as being in-character for him. However, that was only during the first half where he didn't go through any Character Development yet. Afterwards, he grew out of that mindset and matured and began to fight when it was necessary instead of just for the love of it. In this movie however, Thor's attitude and behavior feels like Flanderization of old personality traits that he should've long grown out of for the sake of comedic gags.
Friendly Fandoms: With American Psycho fans, thanks to the presence of Christian Bale.
Genius Bonus:
- Omnipotence City, as a meeting place for many gods, is full of cameos of gods from various real world mythologies, many of whom are extremely obscure in comparison to Thor and Zeus. Though they highlight two fictional ones, if you're familiar with these mythologies, you can even make a game out of identifying the gods on-screen.
- Zeus is depicted pretty much exactly as his mythic counterpart, a Jerkass God and all, but more notably it's 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 expresses that as a child he looked up to Zeus and somewhat emulated him, which is actually somewhat historically sound. Zeus is a much older mythic figure than Thor is, with Greek Mythology predating the earliest mentions of Thor by several hundred years. The absolute oldest existing references to Norse stories didn't actually distinguish them as separate from the Greeco-Roman traditions, with Roman scholars identifying Thor as an equivalent of Jupiter (IE, Zeus), or Hercules. Thor is a child compared to Zeus and it is apparent he borrowed significantly from him, as well as his son.
Idiosyncratic Ship Naming: One fan on Twitter has taken to calling the Thor/Jane pairing "Tiebreaker".
I Knew It!: After it was announced Russell Crowe had been cast as Zeus, many fans guessed Hercules would either make an appearance during this film, or that bringing the Greek pantheon into the MCU would set up a formal debut for Herc down the road. The former guesses were ultimately proven right, as Hercules cameos in the mid-credits Stinger.
Improved Second Attempt: A number of criticized elements of the Jane-as-the-Mighty-Thor story have been mitigated and changed for this movie.
- Firstly, there was that her identity as Jane Foster was obscured for a length of time and thus prevented her from developing as a character (with work being done to set up a Red Herring), making her feel under-utilized even in her own book (which spent more time with other characters reacting to her existence). Here, Jane is revealed from the get-go as the Mighty Thor, and reveals her identity to Thor as soon as they meet, allowing them to focus on building a solid Battle Couple relationship.
- Similarly, Jane commonly faced opposition from men who took issue with her gender and claiming of Thor's identity, which annoyed pretty much everyone, feminist and non-feminist alike, for a number of reasons. None of that is a problem here as nobody takes issue with Jane's heroics due to her gender, with Thor's only issues being jealousy at her using his old weapon Mjolnir and later, concern for her health when he learns that she's draining herself by fighting.
- Another point of controversy was the treatment of Thor himself for Jane's sake, as in the original story, Thor lost the ability to lift Mjolnir simply because he was told a dark secret by Nick Fury (later revealed to be "Gorr was right") that rendered him "unworthy". This was seen as a pretty weak justification, and Thor's resulting Despair Event Horizon arc (which included Thor losing an arm, wangsting about his unworthiness, and eventually aiding HYDRA because of manipulations from an evil alternate universe Steve Rogers) was generally not well-liked. Here, this is completely axed, and it's shown Thor has no issue with lifting Mjolnir, it's simply that because he had told the hammer to always protect Jane, it's doing that now, and thus prioritizing her "calls" for it over his. To mitigate any issues that might have spawn from this change, Thor still points out it was Jane who taught him how to be worthy of the hammer back in Thor and thus she is worthy of it all the same. In the end, he's shown using Mjolnir as his primary weapon again, having gifted Stormbreaker to his adopted daughter Love, showing once and for all that he still fulfills every requirement to use it.
- In general, Jason Aaron's run on Thor (which served as the main basis of the film's overall plot, including Gorr the God-Butcher) has become something of a major Broken Base regarding its overall quality, with much of it aimed at the number of confusing subplots, characters, and elements, all that proved divisive, all of which is axed here. The result is a much simpler story that takes all the stuff that worked in that run without the worse elements that left it so infamous.
It's Short, So It Sucks!: The film is one of the shortest entries into the MCU (still 2 hours long), and much of the controversy around the film stems from complications caused by that (such as cutting out subplots that had been hyped like Valkyrie's love interest, some of Gorr's Character Development, etc), and though some appreciated the breezy experience, especially those who have gotten sick of some recent superhero movies boasting very long runtimes, it's not uncommon to find people who cite the short length as a mark against it compared to the other MCU films.
It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Many of the film's detractors have criticized the film for continuing to use the large amounts of Mood Whiplash and Bathos that were present in previous Marvel Cinematic Universe films (as well as Taika Waititi's other films), feeling that it has gotten stale and undercuts the dramatic moments too much.
Jerkass Woobie: Gorr is a nightmarishly terrifying villain who's more than happy to remind people why he's called the God Butcher. Behind his wrathful, Faux Affably Evil exterior, though, is someone who's been so thoroughly broken that one can hardly fault him for taking up the Necrosword.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Sure, Gorr is a dangerous God killer who needs to be stopped, but he has a tragic backstory while most of the gods in this movie, aside from Thor, are either a total Jerkass, a Dirty Coward, or The Hedonist (or in Zeus' case, all three of them), so it's more satisfying seeing him getting on top of them.
Just Here for Godzilla: Several fans who don't care about Thor or the MCU in general have expressed interest in this film to witness the return of Christian Bale to the superhero genre after once stating that he wouldn't star in one again.
LGBT Fanbase:
- Jane Foster's new Amazonian Beauty physique seen in the trailer has earned her heaps of love from queer women. Bisexual people have also been drawn to the film between its predecessor Thor Ragnarok having already acquired a large bisexual fanbase and early statements that Valkyrie's own bisexuality will be acknowledged. The fact that Taika Waititi and Tessa Thompson (who both have major queer fanbases on their own) return from the previous film definitely helps. In particular, Kevin Feige's statement that Valkyrie would "look for her queen" in the movie generated a lot of hype from LGBT fans, though it turned out that this was discarded early into development in favor of focusing on Valkyrie learning to love herself instead. This factor actually resulted in some controversy as many accused the film of queerbaiting when it was finally released, since, as always, any references to LGBT topics have to be minor enough in the English release to be excised in some international releases.
- Thor's new extremely muscular physique, which is insanely beefy even for him, has also endeared him to many queer men. The scene in the official trailer where his robe is flung off and he's bare nude (save for censoring on his ass in the trailer) only takes it higher, and all of Zeus's servants, male and female alike, collapse at the sight of it.
Like You Would Really Do It:
- Korg is impaled by Zeus' lightning bolt, and dramatically crumbles into rubble, seemingly killed. Oh no!! Of course, given the timing and tone of the scene (only about halfway through the film, too early for such a dark moment, and taking place during a goofy romp in the city of the gods), and with Korg being the director's personal avatar character — and a beloved comic relief fan favorite to boot — it was unlikely his fate was going to stick... as proven minutes later when his still-intact head turns out to be alive and well. Not to mention that Korg is telling the story so he has to be alive for him to explain it.
- Minutes later, the exact same fate befalls Zeus himself. And, like Korg, The Stinger reveals that he too survived. It was already pretty unlikely that they were going to hire Russell Crowe for such a major role just to kill him after five minutes of screen time.
Love to Hate: Zeus is a hedonistic, Jerkass, Dirty Coward who does not care about anyone but himself and is too selfish to even give Thor and the gang his Thunderbolt to aid in fighting Gorr. However, Russell Crowe is clearly having a blast in the role, making him one of the funniest parts of the movie.
Magnificent Bastard: 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 callous jerk. An enraged Gorr is chosen by the Necrosword, which can kill gods, and after killing Rapu, decides that all gods must die. Gorr starts his crusade by kidnapping the children of New Asgard to use as bait for Thor, knowing 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.
Moe: The little bao god is adorable with their sparkly anime eyes and Pokémon Speak.
Older Than They Think: The comedic and campy take on Thor in the film was criticised, but while people will recall it existed in Ragnarok, people seem to forget that Thor and The Dark World were also light-hearted and comedic films, and weren't particularly serious or grim. This goes further to the comics and even the mythology, as the former has frequently had a comedic bent to it ever since the Jack Kirby days, while the latter had a number of pretty comedic stories as the Vikings were fond of such, with mythic Thor being prone to embarrassing defeat, immaturity, and even fart jokes.
One-Scene Wonder: Dr. Erik Selvig, a character who had disappeared from the MCU since Avengers: Age of Ultron, makes a small cameo where he consoles Jane about her cancer treatment.
One True Pairing: Seeing Thor reunited with Jane Foster onscreen again has been universally praised by both fans and detractors.
Rooting for the Empire: Seeing how many of the gods are Jerkasses and hedonistic cowards, it's no wonder why some audiences want Gorr to kill them all.
Salvaged Story:
- For those who weren't overly impressed with Thor's Temporary Bulk Change in Avengers: Endgame, Thor going through a Training Montage to get his original physique back for this film was a welcoming sight.
- Thor: Ragnarok was criticized for glossing over the Warriors Three as Cannon Fodder to Hela. Sif returns as one of Thor's prior allies and survives the movie, alleviating concerns that she would be given the same treatment.
- A scene was cut from Ragnarok confirming that Valkyrie had a female lover, leaving it as Word of Gay that she was bisexual. Love and Thunder confirms she's had (multiple) female lovers, she clearly enjoys the sight of a naked Thor, and she takes a moment to kiss the hand of one of Zeus's female attendants. Korg also explains that he has two dads (in addition to speaking about his mother and her new boyfriend in Ragnarok), and finds his own male lover in the end.
- After the post-The Dark World falling out between Marvel Studios and Natalie Portman, Jane obviously had to be written out of the franchise for Ragnarok. But the way it was done — with an Offscreen Breakup that was heavily implied to be Jane harshly dumping Thor and him playing it for comedy — was felt to be a disservice to the character and awkwardly executed. Love and Thunder re-contextualizes the breakup by revealing a more amicable reason: Between their respective busy careers as an Avenger and scientist, and fears about commitment, Thor and Jane both simply grew apart.
- A minor critique some people had of Endgame was that the film seemed to have forgotten about Stormbreaker's ability to summon the Bifrost. Here, it's explained that this method of using the Bifrost is unstable and without something to channel Stormbreaker's immense power, it does not always make for smooth traveling, as Thor finds out the hard way.
- Quite a number of Guardians of the Galaxy 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 (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.
- Relatedly, a lot of people (including James Gunn himself) weren't on board with the idea of Thor becoming part of the Guardians, as many people felt his inclusion was superfluous and that he would greatly clash with the group's Found Family dynamic. This film only depicts Thor adventuring with the Guardians for a short time before quickly parting ways with the group, so that the Guardians can continue to have their own solo installments. Gunn noted in an interview with Rolling Stone that he was very appreciative of this, as he hadn't penned Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 with Thor involved with the story, and had no interest in rewriting the script to do so.
Ships That Pass in the Night: Sif and Valkyrie have proven popular now that the latter has been confirmed bisexual. The two never interact but they're both seen at New Asgard at the end, teaching self-defense classes to young Asgardians.
Signature Scene:
- From the trailers, Thor and Korg looking upon the fallen corpse of Falligar, a scene pulled directly from the comics.
- From the actual film, three scenes regarding Gorr; the prologue showing his heartbreaking Start of Darkness, the battle between him and the Asgardians mostly in Deliberately Monochrome, and the climax where he finally reaches Eternity. All three scenes have been acclaimed for their powerful drama, great action set pieces, and generally being the few times the film actually took itself more seriously and had a more balanced tone.
Special Effect Failure: Astrid/Axl magically projecting himself to talk to Thor and co. has become memetic in how unpolished and jarring it looks. It was patched when it came to Disney+, but this ended up backfiring as many viewers felt like it ended up looking even worse than before.
Spiritual Successor:
- To the God of War Playstation Game series; Love and Thunder is also the tragedy of a Villain Protagonist modelled on the flawed "heroes" of classic Greek Tragedies (right down to the lazy, toga-clad Jerkass Gods who drove him mad) also on a quest to wipe out all the gods to avenge his daughter. The actual Greek Pantheon who unfortunately do NOT fall by his blade are also as cruel, self-centered, cowardly, and cynical as the ones that Kratos slew in his apocalyptic rampage. And just like Kratos, Gorr gains a second chance of sorts through the Norse Gods when his daughter is resurrected and adopted as a niece by Thor. And just like Atreus, final son of Sparta, Love rejects her cruel Greek-pantheon-inspired heritage, and "becomes better" as Thor inducts her into the (comparatively) honorable and compassionate traditions of the Nordic Warrior, by teaching her to stand up for the helpless and innocent just as Frigga taught him from infancy to do so.
- Thor's Awesome Ego One-Man Army sequence early in the film, with 80s rock blaring as he dresses the part and kicks ass in a manner much more comically over-the-top than the norm, feels a lot like if Kung Fury was adapted to a feature film with a major budget.
- A surprising number of elements in the film feel like they came from Percy Jackson and the Olympians 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 Jerkass God of the highest order without any of his modernised Adaptational Heroism he's often gifted with, having Immortal Immaturity and Head-in-the-Sand Management 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 Big Bad is on a quest to kill the gods after a massive Broken Pedestal situation and is armed with a named weapon that is specifically made to kill gods, but makes the user Secretly Dying 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).
Tainted by the Preview: The campy tone of the trailers has been criticized by fans who wished for a more serious depiction of Thor, and one early pre-review compared it unfavorably to Batman & Robin.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- Lady Sif's screen time has once again left a few fans wanting more.
- The Guardians of the Galaxy only appear in the first act of the film. On the other hand they would've taken too much attention away from Thor so it makes sense they won't be around for much longer in the movie.
- One criticism of the film is that Valkyrie is given comparatively little to do throughout this film, despite the story having initially been described as her quest to find her queen.
- Both Darcy and Dr. Selvig only make cameos in one scene, despite how close they are to Jane. We don't even see how they react to Jane's death.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
- A number of fans have complained that it would have been preferable if the character called "The God Butcher" was actually shown, you know, 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.
- Deleted scenes show that the original story was somewhat different, with the most notable change being that Zeus was to be portrayed far more heroically and sympathetically, cooperating with Thor and serving as something of a mentor figure, something many fans contend would have improved the movie.
Took the Bad Film Seriously: "Bad" might be a stretch but general consensus from the movie's detractors is that Christian Bale's portrayal of Gorr the God Butcher is the best part of the film. His villainous presence is positively frightening both in and out-of-universe, and his tragic past made audiences sympathize with him greatly.
Unexpected Character:
- When the film was announced, almost no one expected the return of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster after her displeasure with filming Thor: The Dark World, let alone as the Mighty Thor, a more recent addition to the comics.
- Hercules and Heimdall in the mid/post-credits scenes, respectively. The latter in particular took many fans by surprise, as Heimdall had previously been Killed Off for Real in Avengers: Infinity War, making it incredibly unlikely that he would come back.
- The cosmic entity Eternity appears very briefly and never speaks, but his comic-accurate design will make all Marvel Comics fans very happy.
- The casting of Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher also received a similar reaction upon its announcement. Mainly because Bale had previously said that he wouldn't appear in a superhero movie again.
- The appearance of Zeus and the Greek pantheon in the trailer was a pleasant surprise for many.
- A small group of Celestials can be seen on Omnipotence City. Considering how utterly powerful and uninvolved in the affairs of lower beings (i.e. pretty much everybody) they are, this was a surprise to many.
- Sif making a return to the big screen, having been absent since Thor: The Dark World was a big surprise to many. To the rejoice of fans, she also survives the movie (albeit with an arm missing) and live on to train a new generation of Asgardian warriors in New Asgard. This is in contrast of the Warriors Three, who were unceremoniously killed off in the previous film and are just as unceremoniously listed here among the many losses Thor has faced.
Unintentionally Sympathetic: The movie perhaps stacks the deck a little too far in Gorr's favor in regards to killing the gods, especially with the sequences with Rapu and Zeus that almost seem to say "all the gods except Thor and the Asgardians suck". Admittedly, the comics also encountered this issue but significantly downplayed it by having Gorr be a lot more unsympathetic than the movie made him; among other things, his gods are already dead when he begins his rampage (making his actions more akin to pettily taking out his grief on people who did nothing to him), most of the gods he kills are portrayed as good and innocent of any wrongdoing (including the very first one he kills), and in the end even his own revived child turns against him, rightfully calling out that the only "evil god" present is Gorr himself. The movie alters nearly all of this and, as a result, makes it feel like Thor and the other gods have no real justification to oppose Gorr beyond not wanting to die. In particular, the gods he is seen killing amount to one Jerkass God and a few in a montage on a computer screen, with us being told that they did not deserve it or were kind, in contrast to the comic Gorr's bloody swathe across the cosmos.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Thor has been criticized by many viewers for having his Awesome Ego flanderized to the point of being a pompous Jerkass to most of his allies, and caring more about how awesome he looks saving the Asgardian children from Gorr's wrath than he does about the fact that said children were kidnapped in the first place. Combine this with his Aloof Ally tendencies towards helping the Guardians early in the movie, and Thor barely seems any better than the gods at Omnipotent City that he criticizes for being lazy and hedonistic, with only his love of adventure, battle and glory making him distinct from them.
WTH, Costuming Department?:
- A few viewers found Thor's new outfit a little too colorful, considering how Jane's Thor costume pulled off far more appropriately. His helmet in particular has been heavily criticized for its utterly bizarre design, though he only wears it in one scene then ditches it because of how cumbersome it is. Even if it did turn out to have been a deliberate attempt in the film itself, the outfit still invites its share of detractors.
- Many fans were upset with how Gorr the God Butcher's look in the comics was altered and how he looks more like a man in makeup rather than the noseless alien with tentacles on the sides of his head.

YMMV / Thor: Love and Thunder

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