Thor: The Dark World - Top Five Things We Know

Hitting theaters in November, Thor: The Dark World had the challenge of following up not only [...]

By Russ Burlingame

Thor The Dark World Comic-Con Exclusive Poster

Hitting theaters in November, Thor: The Dark World had the challenge of following up not only Marvel's own Iron Man 3, but Warner's massive Man of Steel launch and then a summer movie season infused with a ton of fanboy goodness that makes it hard to focus on the fall. Comic book movies like RED 2 and 2 Guns will butt up against 300: Rise of an Empire for our attention, while stories like Pacific Rim stoke the collective imagination of largely the same audience, even if they didn't originate with the printed page. As the summer begins its slow descent, though (there isn't anything as big as Pacific Rim or Man of Steel coming before the fall), all eyes are turning toward the next big superhero blockbuster-in-waiting. While Thor may not have been one of Marvel's top performers the first time around (it did better than Captain America at the box office but nowhere near the Iron Man films or The Avengers), the second is expected to be somewhat more so. Between the popularity of sequels with moviegoers these days and an audience now intimately familiar with not only the hero but his half-brother Loki as well from Thor and The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World is positioned to be a strong opener and, because comparably little is known about it yet, full of surprises, as well. But what are the facts and rumors that have been driving the direction of our Thor discussions these past few months? Read on if you want to know. Malekith isn't alone... So far, fans have only had an opportunity to catch a glimpse of Christopher Eccleston's Malekith the Accursed, who is reportedly the fim's central antagonist. Lost star Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje , meanwhile, will play Kurse, whom he described to ComicBook.com as pretty substantial, with a costume that weighed about 40 pounds. Nobody's seen the character yet, who is expected based on other comments made by the actor to be a largely digital creation. And of course, there are the Dark Elves. While they could turn out to be cannon fodder, a la the Chitauri in Marvel's The Avengers, Iron Man 3 certainly taught us that sometimes the coolest and most compelling villain in the film is the one who gets almost no lines. Guardians of the Galaxy connection? The Thor: The Dark World Prequel comics seem to suggest a connection between the film and Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel's spacefaring "Avengers of the future" that will be getting their own movie in 2014. Directed by James Gunn and starring The Walking Dead's Michael Rooker along with Doctor Who's Karen Gillan, Parks & Recreation's Chris Pratt and Glenn Close, the film is Marvel's first foray into hard science fiction and is being closely watched by fans and analysts who wonder whether they can make it a profitable venture. And, yes, tying it directly into the larger Avengers franchise makes a lot of sense in terms of forcing viewers to feel like it's part of the Marvel Universe, even if it doesn't have a huge impact on famliar characters and locales from the existing films. Death in the family This one's technically rumor, but a fairly well-substantiated one, so take it as a probable spoiler. It seems as though someone in Thor's family—either one of his parents, or Loki—will die in the film. Originally the rumor was that it was Odin. Briefly, Loki's name came up—but Frigga seems to be the one who gets teased the most. Given what a negligible role she played in the first film (and plays in most of the comics stories), she would make sense as a candidate; fridging Frigga would give Thor an immediate raft of issues to overcome without actually substantially altering how the action flows. In any event, besides well-placed "anonymous sources" who have told this to numerous websites, you've also got the film's working title—Thursday Mourning—which if it means anything doesn't mean anything good. Loki switches sides (at least once) Following two films in which he's the principal antagonist, Loki is giving up the role of Big Bad in this film, opting instead to (apparently) work with Thor in waging war against the Dark Elves. Why? Well, there could be any number of reasons, but if the rumor directly above is true, that would make a lot of sense. Of course, Loki is a deceiver and the odds of him being forthright with Thor about his plans are probably not great. The actors have teased that just because he says he's on the good guys's side this time out, that's no reason to take the statement at face value. It's mostly set off-planet Of course, here "off-planet" doesn't mean outer space as much as it does elsewhere in the Nine Realms. Rather than relying on the familiar New York cityscape, where other Avengers might turn up and affect the plot, the movie seems determined—again, like Iron Man 3—to stand on its own, even if that means having to leave earth behind for a good chunk of the story.

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