Some of this might also come down to the movies themselves. Thor: Love and Thunder is a follow-up to a beloved Marvel movie that made over $850 million at the global box office, $200 million more than Thor: Dark World. In fact, each Thor sequel has made more than the last, helping solidify Hemsworth as an actor who can boost ticket sales, and that’s without even considering how much money the Avengers movies have taken in. 2020 action vehicle Extraction, starring Hemsworth as a larger-than-life mercenary on a rescue mission, also happens to be the most-viewed Netflix movie of all time. Despite the character’s popularity, and how much he’s taken over DC’s current comic book line, the Caped Crusader’s latest big-screen outing is actually a bigger risk for Warner Bros. than Love and Thunder is for Marvel (although in the age of Covid-19, who knows what’s going to hit anymore). The Batman is a gritty reboot directed by Matt Reeves, a brilliant filmmaker (Cloverfield, Let Me In) but one who has yet to prove himself in the comic book movie arena. Add to that the fact that the Dark Knight is in a bit of a box office slump since the start of the DCEU: while Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice made $872 million at the global box office, the $260 million production was ultimately less profitable for WB after all the costs were factored in than even Man of Steel and received dismal reviews on top of that. The Batman-fronted Justice League, which also featured all of DC’s other big-name superheroes, made even less than that, a disastrous box office take of $658 million that fell well short of any Avengers movie’s earnings. The Batman opens on March 4, 2022. Thor: Love and Thunder bows on May 6, 2022.
