Iron Man 3 is just around the corner, but things are already beginning to pick up for Thor: The Dark World. We hadn’t heard much about the film for a while but this past week we were given a cool new poster and a couple of images. Now, we have a brand new trailer to go with it too as it was shown ahead of Iron Man 3, which released in Europe this week, and frankly, what we see here is excellent.
The movie, of course, takes place after the events of The Avengers, and while Iron Man 3 is said to be pretty self-contained, we can expect Thor: The Dark World to be more connected to the rest of the Marvel Universe. For one thing, we have Loki back, who fought the six Avengers, and it will be interesting to see the villain’s perspective after those events.
Due to its cosmic nature, we can also expect some hints and nods at Thanos or the Guardians of the Galaxy, or the larger cosmic universe. For example, we saw the Infinity Gauntlet in Thor, and in the comic books, it was something Thanos was after and had obtained. It remains to be seen if that’s how it’s going to play out with Thanos, but if it is, then we might see more of a connection there. Personally, I’m hoping we’ll find out how Loki met Thanos and why he was smiling so much at the end of The Avengers despite his defeat.
Either way, the nature of the movie stops both this, as well as Captain America: The Winter Soldier, from being as self-contained as Iron Man 3. One thing we can expect from all of them though is something tantalizing in the end after the credits to tease us for the next Marvel movie, if not the overall Phase 2 of the Avengers. Unless it’s more shawarmas, I’d sure like to see Loki try one.
Of course, the trailer shows no hints of this, as the focus of this movie is still on Thor. The film seems to take on a darker tone than the first movie (shocker), but it looks great at the same time. The main appeal of this movie, besides Loki of course, is seeing how the Ninth Doctor gets involved in this mess, as Christopher Eccleston plays Malekith, the leader of the Dark Elves. He seems to be a pretty formidable and gruesome villain for Thor from the very little we see of him. Apparently he’s so bad, Thor needs help from a special someone. Seriously, the end had me geeking out. You’re so gripped by the trailer that you completely forget about that one guy, until the end. Brilliantly done, as it takes the trailer to that next level. And is it just me or is there a sort of love triangle brewing between Thor, Jane and Lady Sif?
Overall, the movie looks pretty exciting and much better than the last one (which I really enjoyed). The visuals look great as Asgard is beautiful but less shiny, and I like it better that way. The battle scenes look grand and huge, too. As a big fan of Game of Thrones, I’m not surprised to see Alan Taylor able to create such a world with a seemingly good handle on all the characters involved. The film feels really different from all the other Marvel movies, but you can still tell that it is a Marvel movie. If both this trailer and everything we’ve seen of Iron Man 3 so far is any indication, then Phase 2 of Marvel is going to be one heck of a ride.
Thor: The Dark World hits the theaters on November 8, 2013. Check out the trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments: