Made clearly to capitalize on the popularity of 300, Rise of an Empire is something like collected behind-the-scenes from the Persian invasion featured in 300. Whereas the first film chronicled, ab by ab, the Spartans’ heroic stand in the Battle of Thermopylae against Xerxes’s Persian invasion, Rise of an Empire is about the concurrent naval fight, the Battle of Artemisium.

Ardent fans (who should stay through the credits) will likely be satiated by the pleasing enough Thor: The Dark World. But perhaps at this point, even diehards may wish for something more from a Marvel equation that often subtracts humanity.