Black Panther Rotten Tomatoes rating: Marvel’s latest has an early perfect score

Reviews for Marvel’s upcoming film Black Panther have only just started to hit the Internet, but those same early reviews are pretty glowing.

For those who don’t decide if they’re going to go to the latest big movie before they see a Rotten Tomatoes score, the time has come to make the call on Black Panther. It shouldn’t be that hard a decision, either: in early reviews, counting just 44 at the time of this writing, Marvel’s newest movie has a perfect score of 100.

Now, you might say that that qualifies as a pretty small sample size. After all, Thor: Ragnarok ended with over 300 reviews by the time all was said and done. However, those first impressions matter significantly when it comes to snagging some less-likely members of the potential audience.

Additionally, these early reviews are coming from rather well-respected publications like Rolling Stone, which drops the m-word (it’s masterpiece, not Marvel; expect more from your legendary magazines). Even the Associated Press dubs it “glittering and galvanizing.”

So what does this mean for Black Panther as a movie? Well, it helps it build even stronger buzz, not that it needed much help, since sites like Box Office Pro have it already headed for a $139 million debut. That would put it solidly in the top 10 Marvel Cinematic Universe debuts ever, and there’s an outside chance it could top $150 million, which would cement a spot in the top 5 behind Iron Man, the two Avengers films, and Captain America: Civil War.

Oh, and it probably means that the movie is quite good. As of this writing, it’s got an average score of 8.6/10. That’s better than the aforementioned Thor: Ragnarok by nearly a full point, and also outstrips films like Captain America: Civil War.

Update, 2/7: Black Panther still has a perfect rating, now with 67 reviews and an 8.5/10.

Next: 4 burning questions for Solo: A Star Wars Story

All of this could change as the reviews continue to come in, but expect Black Panther to stay easily in the 90s when it comes to its percentage score.