Avengers: Infinity War finally premiered this week, shortly ahead of its general release, and it has already received a ‘Certified Fresh’ seal from review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. This badge of critic approval is given to movies that receive more than 40 reviews, with a “Tomatometer” score of 75% or more. As of the time of writing, Infinity War has a score of 87% with more than 80 reviews counted.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Infinity War sees the Avengers – along with their newfound allies, the Guardians of the Galaxy – face off against cosmic big bad Thanos. Together, the massive team of superheroes must thwart Thanos’ plan to collect all six Infinity Stones, place them in the Infinity Gauntlet, and use their collective power to wipe out half of all life in the universe.

Marvel Studios has an impressive track record, with every single movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far (Infinity War is the nineteenth entry) receiving an overall “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Of those nineteen movies, all but three (The Incredible Hulk, Thor: The Dark World, and Iron Man 2) have also received a “Certified Fresh” seal, and Rotten Tomatoes announced on Twitter that Avengers: Infinity War has joined those ranks.

This rating puts Infinity War squarely in the middle of the Rotten Tomatoes rankings for MCU movies – just above Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and just below Doctor Strange. However, it’s worth noting that the average critic rating (7.6) is higher than Doctor Strange, and on par with Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Infinity War‘s box office projections point to a $235-255 million opening weekend gross, meaning that it could potentially overtake the $247.9 million record recently set by Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Avengers: Infinity War was always going to be a tricky act to pull off. Not only did the movie have to deliver on ten years’ worth of build-up to the eventual arrival of Thanos, it also had to juggle an absolutely massive cast of superheroes (along with their ongoing character arcs), and begin to lay the groundwork for the next phase of the MCU. While the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, Infinity War has also attracted criticism from some reviewers who say the movie feels overstuffed. Of course, for hardcore fans who love every moment of seeing their favorite heroes on screen together, that probably won’t be a problem.

KEY RELEASE DATES
Avengers: Infinity War / The Avengers 3 release date: Apr 27, 2018
Ant-Man & The Wasp release date: Jul 6, 2018
Captain Marvel release date: Mar 8, 2019
The Avengers 4 / Untitled Avengers Movie release date: May 3, 2019
Untitled Spider-Man: Homecoming Sequel release date: Jul 5, 2019