Fast forward again to 2011, and
the Marvel Cinematic Universe
is steamrolling its way through
Hollywood on the road to 2012’s
record-breaking The Avengers.
The first Thor is released, and
moviegoers get their inaugural taste
of the beloved character’s mythology.
While the film proves divisive
amongst film critics, both the comic
book character’s stalwart fans and
Thor newcomers alike generally
seem smitten with the Thunder
God’s cinematic introduction. Now,
two years on, Thor is set to get a
sequel, bearing the subtitle of The
Dark World.
The sequel is set one year after
the events that transpired in Joss
Whedon’s The Avengers. Asgard,
home of the Asgardians and all
their Norse mythology-inspired
extravagance, is under threat from
the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim,
who’ve risen up under the leadership
of new antagonist Malekith
(known as Malekith the Accursed
in the Marvel Comics universe – a
Thor: The
Dark World
is the second
step on the long
path to an Avengers
sequel. It began
with Iron Man
3, and following
Thor’s second film
we’ve also got
Captain America:
The Winter Soldier
to look forward to,
as well a s another
film centred on
The Incredible
Hulk. All this in
addition to Joss
Whedon’s Agents
of S.H.I.E.L.D.
television series.
The Avengers: Age
of Ultron is due to
hit cinemas in 2015.
112
recurring thorn in Thor’s side) and
are terrorising the Nine Realms.
Just as any half-decent supervillian
would, Malekith aspires to plunge
the universe into unrelenting chaos,
and with Asgard besieged by an
enemy older than the Universe
itself – one that even Odin and all
of Asgard cannot hope to defeat –
Thor travels to Earth (or Midgard,
as it’s also known to the Asgardians)
to reunite with astrophysicist Jane
Foster. The pair must embark on a
journey that will, as press releases
for the movie so dramatically put it,
force Thor “to sacrifice everything to
save us all”.
feature / movies / Thor: The Dark World