The Marvel Cinematic Universe's 2021 movie releases had some wildly different Rotten Tomatoes scores, all having a different impact on the franchise's average performance. Black Widow, Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, and Spider-Man: No Way Home were all different for the MCU because they were released during a pandemic that impacted theater attendance and box office drastically, but reviews are another story.
While Black Widow was originally slated to release in 2020, the pandemic forced the release date to change, making 2021 the first year in which there were four MCU movies released in theaters (five if you tangentially count Venom: Let There Be Carnage). That wasn't the franchise's only big "first." Prior to 2021, the MCU had a perfect track record in Rotten Tomatoes, earning a Fresh score on every single one of its 23 movies to that point, but 2021 saw the first "Rotten" score with Eternals.
The MCU has had enough movies released with consistently strong Rotten Tomatoes scores, so no single movie can sway the franchise's average Rotten Tomatoes scores by much, but there were still a number of shifts throughout 2021, seeing some averages go up and others go down.
Black Widow's Impact on the MCU's Rotten Tomatoes Scores
As the first film of the MCU's phase 4, Black Widow is also the first MCU prequel that isn't set outside the main franchise timeline. It was also the first MCU film to release during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first MCU movie to get released on streaming the same day it was released in theaters. Despite standing out in all those ways, its review scores in Rotten Tomatoes aren't very notable.
Black Widow was reviewed mostly positively, but its Rotten Tomatoes scores came in under the MCU's pre-2021 average across the board. Black Widow's 79 percent Tomatometer score is six points below the MCU's 85 percent average, the 71 percent Top Critic Score is seven points lower than the MCU's 78 percent average, and the 81 percent audience score is one point below the MCU's 82 percent average audience score. Black Widow brought the MCU's average Tomatometer score down one point to 84 percent and the Top Critic score down one point to 77 percent, but the audience score was unimpacted.
Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' Impact on the MCU's Rotten Tomatoes Scores
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is the first MCU Phase 4 with events set after the events of Avengers: Endgame (Spider-Man: Far From Home is technically the last movie in Phase 3). It also introduces Shang Chi, making it the MCU's first Asian-led movie.
Unlike Black Widow, Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings performed above the MCU's pre-Black Widow average in every way. Its 91 percent Tomatometer score is six points higher than the MCU's 84 percent average, its 91 percent Top Critic score is 13 points higher than the MCU's 78 percent average, and its 93 percent audience score is 12 points higher than the MCU's 81 percent average audience score. After Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the MCU's average Tomatometer returned to the pre-Black Widow level of 85 percent, but the other scores were unimpacted.
Eternals' Impact on the MCU's Rotten Tomatoes Scores
Rotten Tomatoes was one of the biggest talking points surrounding Eternals because it has the honor of the MCU's first "Rotten" Tomatometer score. Before Eternals, the lowest score in the MCU would have still been considered Fresh, but since Eternals scored 47 percent, that's no longer true. The Top Critic score was even worse at 37 percent; however, the audience score is 78 percent, which is only the second-lowest in the MCU after Captain Marvel's 45 percent audience score (although there were claims of review bombing for Captain Marvel, but it's not clear where the score would have been otherwise).
Eternals changed the MCU's average Rotten Tomatoes scores more than any other 2021 MCU movie, but with so many well-reviewed movies in the franchise, the impact wasn't much more noticeable than the other movies last year. The 85 percent average Tomatometer score dropped two points to 83 percent and the 78 percent average Top Critic Score dropped just one point to 77 percent, but the audience score stayed at 83 percent.
Spider-Man: No Way Home's Impact on the MCU's Rotten Tomatoes Scores
The MCU Spider-Man movies have all been well-reviewed and performed well a the box office, but Spider-Man: No Way Home took things to another level. Spider-Man: No Way Home earned some of the MCU's highest Rotten Tomatoes scores and is making a killing at the box office, earning the MCU's second-highest opening weekend box office haul behind Avengers: Endgame.
Spider-Man: No Way Home's 94 percent Tomatometer score is the sixth highest in the MCU and 11 points higher than the MCU's 83 percent post Eternals average. The 88 percent Top Critic score is only 10th in the MCU, but it's one point higher than the MCU's 77 percent average. Finally, Spider-Man: No Way Home's 98 percent audience score is the highest in the MCU, beating the pre-No Way Home average of 82 percent by 17 points. Thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home, the MCU's average Tomatometer score went back up one point to 84 percent. The MCU's average Top Critic score was unimpacted, but the average audience score increased one point to 83 percent.
The MCU's 2021 movies had some of the franchise's highest highs in Rotten Tomatoes, but it wasn't quite enough to overcome Eternals low scores. Altogether, Marvel Studios' 2021 releases averaged 78 percent and brought the franchise's pre-2021 average Tomatometer score down one point from 85 percent to 84 percent. 2021's 72 percent average Top Critic score brought the MCU's average down one point to 77 percent. Thankfully, the franchise-high audience score from Spider-Man: No Way Home managed to overcome the below-average audience scores of Black Widow and Eternals (especially the latter) with a 2021 average of 88 percent, bringing the MCU's average Rotten Tomatoes audience score up one point from 82 percent to 83 percent. The total shift in the numbers may not be very extreme, but it's a testament to the strength of the MCU's review scores in Rotten Tomatoes that even a score as low as Eternals doesn't shift the total by very much.