To no one’s surprise, “Thor” ruled the box-office this weekend, grossing $66 million and demonstrating that the whole Marvel Movie Universe project might actually be worthy of its massive, ever-increasing scale.

(“The Incredible Hulk“?  Let’s not talk about that. Edward gets so crabby.)

Should one scoff at the returns for “Thor” compared to last weekend’s “Fast Five” ($83.6 million, biggest opening of the year), I would humbly point out that Thor is not exactly one of Marvel’s strongest brands, and plenty of people were waiting on word-of-mouth before heading out to the megaplex. (Movies ain’t cheap these days.)

I wouldn’t be surprised if “Thor” holds onto a higher percentage of its box-office than usual next week, as audiences who held off this weekend wander over to see what’s up with the Norseman. No disrespect to “Bridesmaids”, mind you, but this film definitely courts a different audience.