All Four Thor Films RANKED!

Thor is, well, the weirdest subseries of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As the only true quadrilogy of the MCU, Thor has officially outlasted the iconic Iron Man and Guardians of the Galaxy trilogies! It's wild to think that this rather interesting set of films even exists, with how completely different each film is. The first feels like a rather typical fish-out-of-water superhero film, the second feels like a Shakespearean Game of Thrones drama, the third is a modern, hilarious epic that feels like the peak of MCU-isms, and the fourth feels like the third, but put through the formula of typically corny 80s movies sequels. I like all of them to some degree, but unfortunately, they are all rather below-average MCU films.

4: Thor - D Tier

The Reel Ranker Score: 38%

Year: 2011
Critic Consensus: 67%
Audience Consensus: 73%

Thor is one of the weakest and most boring MCU films, even though I don't find there to be any particularly jarring flaws associated with it. I loved Asgard, enjoyed the characters well enough, and found some of the fish-out-of-water scenes mildly entertaining. But, to me, Thor is just the most forgettable MCU film at this point. So many films are polarizing, universally praised, and harshly criticized, yet the first Thor film usually escapes all that—and, in my opinion, for good reason. Frankly, it's nothing special. While Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Love and Thunder have extremely glaring flaws, they also have some pretty decent strengths. This film? Not really. All this movie does better than the others is 1) the villain and 2) the practical setpiece of Asgard. That's practically it. This film isn't bad, but it also isn't terrific, and I'd watch any of the other Thor films over this one any day of the week.

3: Thor: The Dark World - C Tier

The Reel Ranker Score: 40%

Year: 2013
Critic Consensus: 61%
Audience Consensus: 72%

I understand why this is commonly placed under the original in rankings of the MCU, but I like this one just a tad better. I really enjoyed the majestic scope of this film and the incorporation of the Aether. I also found it to be more emotional, as it includes the death of Thor's mom and the first of Loki's many emotional "death" scenes. I found the climax to be more interesting, as convoluted as it was at times. Unfortunately, the villain here was pretty mediocre and distasteful, and the movie just dragged on a little too long. Ultimately, this film isn't all too much more interesting than the original, but I certainly like it better.

2: Thor: Love and Thunder - C Tier

The Reel Ranker Score: 45%

Year: 2022
Critic Consensus: 60%
Audience Consensus: 62%

I get all the criticisms of this film, but personally, I still had more fun with this film than the first two films of the quadrilogy. It's stupid and flawed, but at least its flaws are ironically humorous in an intriguing way. I found that, while not a fantastic film, this film had my favorite cast of heroes of the four films and had a captivating (albeit underbaked) villain in the form of Christian Bale's Gorr the God Butcher. I found the Zeus scenes and Korg scenes funny, even though a lot of the other jokes aren't exactly my cup of tea. I found Jane Foster to be at her best in this film, and I personally found her to be the highlight of this film! But, as much as I love some things about this movie, it isn't quite so polished. The tease of the Asgardians of the Galaxy almost couldn't have been paid off more poorly; the runtime didn't leave enough breathing room for the narrative and spent too much time on outdated referential humor; Christian Bale's villain was criminally underused; Zeus was funny, but felt awfully utilized; Thor Saving Gorr's daughter instead of, well, saving somebody that his character would logically save based on the characterization of the multitude of films he stars in... this film is practically fundamentally flawed. While this movie has some of my favorite Thor action, it also has the majority of the worst moments of the quadrilogy. However, when it comes down to it, I'd rather watch something fun, flawed, and corny than something unabashedly boring.

1: Thor: Ragnarok - S+ Tier

The Reel Ranker Score: 86%

Year: 2017
Critic Consensus: 84%
Audience Consensus: 82%

No questions about it: this is my obvious favorite of the Thor quadrilogy. It's the funniest, the flashiest. It's the most epic, the most emotional, the most engaging, and the most entertaining. It's the most daring, the most different. It's the most charming, the most climactic; the most creative, the most charismatic. The most bombastic, the most bodacious. The most awesome and the all-around best. Thor: Ragnarok perfects the MCU-isms of the MCU while still having this feel like a misguided parody of what could've been. This movie starkly contrasts the previous two films, yet switches things up in a bold and better direction that, frankly, feels like an absolutely natural evolution for the character in retrospect, even under scrutinous and strong-willed review. This film is simply brilliant and one of the best of the MCU, which, in turn, makes it the obvious best Thor movie in my eyes.

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The Verdict

The Reel Ranking:

4 - Thor (38%)
3 - Thor: The Dark World (40%)
2 - Thor: Love and Thunder (45%)
1 - Thor: Ragnarok (86%)

Common Critic Consensus:

4 - Thor: Love and Thunder (60%)
3 - Thor: The Dark World (61%)
2 - Thor (67%)
1 - Thor: Ragnarok (84%)

Common Audience Consensus:

4 - Thor: Love and Thunder (62%)
3 - Thor: The Dark World (72%)
2 - Thor (73%)
1 - Thor: Ragnarok (82%)