Thor: The Dark World's First Footage Debuts

At the Professional Cinema Days in Sorrento, Italy, Marvel's International Vice President Nigel Cook reportedly presented the first footage yet to come out (officially) of the Thor: The Dark World production, and dished a little bit of information about the film, its story and the studio's expectations for the movie. The film, which comes to theaters November 8 of next year, will star Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Hopkins, Renee Russo, Tom Hiddleston and Natalie Portman reprising their roles from Thor and Marvel's The Avengers. Chris Eccleston will join the cast as the film's villain. Comic Book Movie scoured Twitter and some international news reports to gather the following description from fans:

"In the preview, a voice-over is heard with the oath of the God of Thunder as the new supreme ruler. We see a clash between Thor and the enemy army, in a world that is neither Asgard let alone the Earth. We see Chris Hemsworth wielding his hammer and Tom Hiddleston as Loki first wounded without a helmet, with long, loose hair and then imprisoned; his anger increasingly desperate and irrational. Then there's a scene later in which he is free again, but still furious. "The rest of the images show glimpses of Asgard, with Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Natalie Portman in clothes that seem more like a princess; an Asgardian princess. In between, there are images of an epic battle on horseback, who seems to have left an epic cloak-and-dagger. The threat to the Asgardians is certainly a new alien race pale (now identified as the dark elves). "A black spaceship shaped irregularly looks like a serious threat to Asgard. More sequences show Natalie Portman then alongside Thor lying on the ground, probably overwhelmed in a clash."

The site also noted that Cook (and likely Marvel/Disney) are somewhat concerned that, despite devoting considerable resources to this film including the largest and most intricate sets yet for a Marvel Studios film, it may be overshadowed by Iron Man 3 next year. Thor itself suffered a bit from being released in between a handful of high profile comics adaptations, although it did just fine at the box office. Cook also revealed that the film, which has been said to take place mostly off-world, has at least a framing device on earth, as it will begin and end here.