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Alan Taylor,

Countdown to - Thor: The Dark World - All the Thor: The Dark World updates you need - Images, Posters, Trailers and News

I wasn't the biggest fan of the first Thor film - look it was an enjoyable 3D Summer spectacle but I felt it didn't quite capture the Thor I wanted. I struggled with the more fantastical elements of the Asgardian world, this is something that I always struggled with reading the comics as well as the larger Cosmic parts of the Marvel Universe.

My review of Thor: The Dark World can be found here > Thor: The Dark World smashes it and asks anyone else? - Thor: The Dark World Review
But something wonderful happened awhile back in discussion with Phil Edwards and Mark Wassmer of Live For Films about Avengers Assemble and The Dark Knight Rises, this was before either of those films were released and they were firmly in the Marvel marketing camp whilst I again was defending DC's flagging attempts. We got to the part in the conversation where Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy became the focus - now I had attempted to read a couple GOTG comics when I was a kid and really didn't get into them. But both Phil and Mark said that the new stuff was great and I really should read the "Cosmic stuff". I responded with I hate that Cosmic stuff - both of them chuckled and Phil says That's exactly what Star-Lord or Peter Quill would say. Now I knew Star-Lord from the brilliant Marvel Preview line so I thought I would look into it.

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Well just over a year later I did and I managed to make may way through most of the Cosmic reading list. Including the Guardians of the Galaxy story arc. I was absolutely blown away I couldn't put the comics down and rushed through many of them in days. I became a huge Guardians of the Galaxy fan and a by product of this was that I know now who the aliens in Avengers Assemble were as well as their place in the larger scope of things (they are only the beginning).
Why am I telling you this well there is some crossover into Thor's world and reading the Cosmic arcs not only reversed my opinion on it, but put the other areas of the Marvel Universe in the shade - for me the cosmic elements are now the strongest part of the Marvel Universe and I can't wait to see it  explored on screen. and that includes seeing what Alan Taylor does with Thor: The Dark World. 

If you read my Thor review or my report from the Marvel Presentation at Empire's MovieCon where I asked Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Feige and Tom Hiddleston:

 "With the overwhelming success of Iron Man, will that become a template for further Marvel films, or will Thor be darker or have more pathos?”"

You'll know I wanted Thor to be different from Iron-Man. I loved Iron-Man but I want Thor to live in a universe that feels like it has god and monsters and all sorts of Cosmic elements to it not just a spin off of the world Iron-Man lives in. He is the God of Thunder.

Well it looks like Thor: The Dark World is going to address this.

Marvel’s "Thor: The Dark World" continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that pre-dates the universe itself.  In the aftermath of Marvel’s "Thor" and "Marvel’s The Avengers," Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos...but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness.  Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano and Jaimie Alexander with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” is directed by Alan Taylor, produced by Kevin Feige, from a story by Don Payne and screenplay by Christopher Yost and Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely and is based on Marvel’s classic Super Hero Thor, who first appeared in the comic book “Journey into Mystery “ #83 in August, 1962.

We can expect to see Alan Taylor's Thor: The Dark World in UK cinemas from 30 October 2013. In the meantime below I'll be updating this post with all the official news you need to know about Thor: The Dark World.

ALL THE THOR: THE DARK WORLD UPDATES YOU NEED

-  THE MIGHTY AVENGER PROVES MIGHTY AT THE BOX OFFICE
- We get a look at  3 new Thor: The Dark World clips AWESOME >>> Sif: I've got this under control, Jane Foster: Where were you? clip and Darcy interrupting Jane Foster's date with Richard Chris O'Dowd Clip
-  Marvel Studios announce an exclusive UK fan screening of Thor: The Dark World to mark the turning back of the clocks
-  Marvel release a second clip from Thor: The Dark World this one featuring dark elf Malekith Waking up
-  We get a Thor: The Dark World When do we start’ clip featuring Thor and Loki
- First look Thor: The Dark World Loki Returns Featurette is released
-  Thor: The Dark World gets three warrior character posters of Fandral, Volstagg and Sif
- We get to see a little more of the world of Thor: The Dark World in a Beyond Realms featurette
- We get our first look at Chris O'Dowd as Richard on what looks like a date with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman)
- A Pedigree Piece Featurette featuring interviews with Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston for Thor: The Dark World is released
- We get a look at two new character banners from Thor: The Dark World of Malekith and Heimdall
-  Thor: The Dark World gets two more character banner posters Odin and another Loki
- We get 2 new Thor: The Dark World character banners featuring  Thor and Jane Foster and Malekith
- We get some more hi res stills from Thor: The Dark World featuring Loki in Asgardian prison, Malekith of the Dark Elves, Tor, Odin,Dark Elves, Jane Foster & Frigga in danger and Asgard
- We get background information on Thor: The Dark World, Casting and Characters and Creating The Look and locations of Thor: The Dark World
- We get some lovely new hi res stills from Thor: The Dark World featuring Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Kronan, Loki in prison, Malekith's arrival, Sif and Heimdall
-  Thor: The Dark World Character posters
- We get Some surprising facts about Thor: The Dark World that you may not know about...
- Thor: The Dark World gets a full trailer
- We get a familiar new look Thor: The Dark World poster
- Thor: The Dark World Gets a Comic-Con Poster!
- Thor: The Dark World title art is revealed
- Finally Thor: The Dark World gets a teaser trailer and we see London get attacked
- We get the first 3 stills from Thor: The Dark World
- An electrifying Thor: The Dark World Teaser Poster is unleashed
- Official synopsis for Thor: The Dark World is released
- Thor: The Dark World slideshow

- THE MIGHTY AVENGER PROVES MIGHTY AT THE BOX OFFICE
Marvel Studios’ latest release, THOR THE DARK WORLD has created a storm over the UK, hammering home an opening box office of £8.65 million. The result, which includes a 3 day weekend total of £5.54 million, sees THOR THE DARK WORLD take more than double the result of the current number two film, making it the clear number one film in the UK. The weekend result has also eclipsed the entire first week box office of the first film, Marvel’s THOR.

THOR THE DARK WORLD, which continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, following Marvel’s THOR and Marvel’s AVENGERS ASSEMBLE, also achieved global success by opening as the number one film in countries including France, Germany and Spain taking $109.4 million worldwide in its first weekend. The film flies into US cinemas from November 8th.

The film, starring Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman, features a strong British cast including Tom Hiddleston, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba and Christopher Eccleston, with key scenes shot on location in London. The production was primarily shot at Shepperton Studios and helmed by Game of Thrones director, Alan Taylor. Londoner Tom Hiddleston was excited about having his hometown featured in the film stating “No one is going to have seen London in the way they see it in this film.”


THOR THE DARK WORLD sees Thor battle to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s THOR and Marvel’s AVENGERS ASSEMBLE Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos...but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.



-  We get 2 new Thor: The Dark World clips including a particularly awesome return of Thor in Sif:  I've got this under control as well as Thor and Jane Foster reunite: Where were you? Clip







MARVEL STUDIOS TO MARK THE TURNING BACK OF THE CLOCKS WITH AN EXCLUSIVE UK FAN SCREENING OF THOR THE DARK WORLD
To celebrate the release of the latest blockbuster adventure from the ‘Mighty Avenger’, THOR THE DARK WORLD, Marvel and Walt Disney Studios are marking the return of darkness to the UK by hosting an exclusive first look screening of the film as the clocks go back in the early hours of Sunday October 27th, giving fans the first chance to see the film ahead of its UK release on October 30th 2013.

Taking place in Greenwich, the epicentre of GMT and key filming location in THOR THE DARK WORLD the film will be screened exclusively to fans who will get the chance to win tickets via Marvel UK’s social channels and exclusive competitions.

Fans will be treated to a midnight reception in the magnificent Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College – a key location used within the film - before being some of the first in the UK to see the new movie from Marvel Studios, the creators of this year’s blockbuster sensation, Iron Man 3 and one of the biggest films of all time, Marvel’s Avengers Assemble. The film will begin at 1am – the exact moment that clocks around the UK are turned back one hour plunging UK nights back into darkness.

THOR: THE DARK WORLD continues the big screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that pre-dates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s Thor and Marvel’s Avengers Assemble, Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos...but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

The Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, setting of a major battle scene in THOR THE DARK WORLD, is one of London’s most iconic sites. The stunning Painted Hall, which took its artist almost 20 years to complete, is the jewel in its crown. Fans not lucky enough to win tickets to this exclusive event can still visit Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece to see where the scenes were filmed as it is open to the public daily.

For more information about Thor: The Dark World head over to:
https://www.facebook.com/marveluk
https://twitter.com/MarvelUK


-  Marvel release a second clip from Thor: The Dark World this one featuring dark elf Malekith Waking up






-  We get a Thor: The Dark World When do we start’ clip featuring Thor and Loki





- First look Thor: The Dark World Loki Returns Featurette is released





-  Thor: The Dark World gets three warrior character posters of Fandral, Volstagg and Sif

Thor: The Dark World Jaimie Alexander Sif Character Banner ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Ray Stevenson Volstagg Character Banner ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Zachary Levi Fandral Character Banner ZOOM

- We get to see a little more of the world of Thor: The Dark World in a Beyond Realms featurette





- First look at Chris O'Dowd as Richard on what looks like a date with Jane Foster (Natalie Portman)

Thor: The Dark World Richard (Chris O'Dowd) & Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) at Oxo Tower Zoom

Thor: The Dark World First Look at Chris O'Dowd as Richard ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Natalie Portman as Jane Foster ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Richard (Chris O'Dowd) & Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) interrupted by Darcy Lewis ( Kat Dennings) ZOOM

- A Pedigree Piece Featurette featuring interviews with Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston for Thor: The Dark World is released





- We get a look at two new character banners from Thor: The Dark World of Malekith and Heimdall

Thor: The Dark World Christopher Eccleston as Malekith Walking Character Banner ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Idris Elba Heimdall Character Banner ZOOM

-  Thor: The Dark World gets two more character banner posters Odin and another Loki

Thor: The Dark World Second Tom Hiddleston Loki Character Banner ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Anthony Hopkins Odin Character Banner ZOOM

- We get 2 new Thor: The Dark World character banners featuring  Thor and Jane Foster and Malekith

Thor: The Dark World Thor and Jane Foster Character Banner ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Malekith Mask Character Banner ZOOM

- We get some more hi res stills from Thor: The Dark World featuring Loki in Asgardian prison, Malekith of the Dark Elves, Tor, Odin,Dark Elves, Jane Foster & Frigga in danger and Asgard

Thor: The Dark World Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in prison ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Malekith of the Dark Elves (Chris Eccleston) ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins) ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Malekith of the Dark Elves (Chris Eccleston) ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Dark Elf and Malekith (Chris Eccleston) ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and Frigga (Rene Russo) ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Dark Elves (Chris Eccleston) ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Asgard ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Loki (Tom Hiddleston) & Thor (Chris Hemsworth) ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), Ian Boothby (Jonathan Howard), and Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) ZOOM

- We get background information on Thor: The Dark World, Casting and Characters and Creating The Look and locations of Thor: The Dark World
From Marvel Studios comes the highly anticipated “Thor: The Dark World,” continuing the big screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that pre-dates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s “Thor” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos...but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

THE BEGINNING of Thor: The Dark World
In 1962, the now-legendary duo of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby introduced “The Mighty Thor” to readers of Marvel Comics, unleashing a new era of action-adventure with their take on the hammer-wielding Norse god.  Despite the Nordic-sounding names, the story was rooted in familiar, universal conflicts that have driven human drama since the beginning of time: a son impatient to prove his worth to his father; a lethally resentful brother; and a woman who helps a man see the world anew.

After the global cinematic success of Marvel’s “Thor,” the filmmakers reached once more into a rich archive of Norse mythology and comic book history for Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World.” The movie paints an adventure of the most epic and spectacular proportions. Again drawing on universal and familiar themes, the film pits duty and family allegiance against personal aspiration and love. It sees a nation in conflict with an enemy long thought to be dead, but who now threatens the very existence of the universe.

“Thor: The Dark World” producer and Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige notes that writers Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had made an inspired move by looking to Norse mythology when deciding to create a god as a comic book Super Hero. He recalls, “A lot of people were familiar with the Greek and Roman mythologies, not so much with the Norse. When you read those stories, it’s like the best of the Marvel Comics, because it’s people who are very human, despite their powers—despite their calling down the storm, the thunder and the lightning. They have family issues, in the two brothers fighting, Thor and Loki.  It’s a family drama and they’re just as flawed as any of us, or any of the Marvel heroes. That’s what makes the Marvel characters so relatable.”

At the end of “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Thor’s adopted brother Loki is taken back to Asgard by Thor as a prisoner, after trying to take over the world. From this starting point, producer Kevin Feige, executive producer Craig Kyle, the screenwriters and a large team at Marvel sat down to look at where Thor’s story should go next. Screenwriter Christopher L. Yost explains, “We really wanted to look at how you could escalate the story personally for him and push things to the next level in terms of conflict.”

Director Alan Taylor, describing Thor’s journey, says, “In the first film, we saw Thor go from being an impetuous prince to taking his first steps towards maturing and growing up, and in our film that life story continues. He’s moving closer to actually claiming the kind of power that comes with Odin. He’s becoming not just a man, but potentially a king as well. In this story, as Thor matures and deepens, he has to give some things up and suffer.”

To create the conflict, the film-makers give Thor a worthy adversary—the villainous Malekith. Introduced in June 1984 in issue #344 of Thor, Malekith is leader of the dark elves, who inhabit Svartalfheim, one of the Nine Realms. After waging war with the Nine Realms, and being defeated by Asgard, the dark elves were considered to be extinct. But Malekith put his planet and the surviving dark elves into hibernation for many thousands of years, until a calculated time when he was ready to avenge the universe and turn light once more into darkness. Malekith and the dark elves will prove to be formidable enemies with a violent and personal history with Asgard.

In creating “Thor: The Dark World,” Marvel filmmakers worked diligently to respect the film’s origins and the legions of comic book fans it spawned and worked carefully to endear and excite not only those fans but fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well.

CASTING AND CHARACTERS of Thor: The Dark World
Reprising his role as the Mighty Thor, God of Thunder, Chris Hemsworth, the Australian actor with a physique to rival men and gods, was delighted to return. “I love playing the character. The trick is each time to find new ways to make the character have some sort of advance or growth from the last one,” explains Hemsworth. “I think you’ve got to make sure the hero is a big catalyst to the resolution from the beginning, that he’s not just there to step in at the very end and save the day. He has to be proactive throughout. There’s a definite conflict within Thor about where his place was. Was it with Jane on Earth or was it in Asgard, and where does his allegiance lie?  Also, he's beginning to understand the darker sides of what it truly means to be king and the burden of the throne.”

Once more taking on the role of esoteric astrophysicist Jane Foster, Natalie Portman enthuses, “It's really fun to get to come back and play her again. I think it’s rare to get the opportunity to play these female scientists in this kind of movie, so it’s nice to have a foil for the super hero!”
Joining Jane once more in her scientific explorations of cosmic understanding is the quirky and irreverent intern, and fan-favorite, Darcy Lewis, played by Kat Dennings. “People seem to love Darcy,” notes Dennings. “I love Darcy. And because she’s not in the comic books, she was born out of my imagination. So the fact that people like her is just really flattering.”

Rounding off the scientific trio of mortals is the talented Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, who plays Erik Selvig. Like fellow cast members he reprises his role. Within the Marvel Universe we last saw him possessed by Loki in “Marvel’s The Avengers.” This experience has left the scientist traumatized and his former colleagues discover his current location by accident, when he is caught on national TV news, half naked at the ancient sacred site of Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, England. Stellan jokes of his predicament, “It was cold. I’d recommend clothes at Stonehenge. The English climate is not suitable for streaking!”
Revisiting the role of the God Odin, King of Asgard, Anthony Hopkins was happy to join the cast of “Thor: The Dark World.” “I enjoyed the first one with Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston. I have scenes with Natalie Portman—she's beautiful and lovely—and Kat Dennings and Chris. They’re terrific people to work with; very easy, gentle and relaxed people.” He admits that he is not well versed in Marvel or Nordic mythology, but explains, “I just play him like a human being, with maybe a little more dimension. I grow a beard, look hopefully impressive and try and keep it as real as possible.”

Jaimie Alexander was thrilled to reprise her role as Sif. “I have to say Sif is one of the favorite characters I’ve played,” says Alexander. “She’s probably closest to my personality out of everything I’ve done. She’s a butt-kicker and I like that!”

Once again playing Volstagg, Ray Stevenson relished the chance to see the character’s background develop further as life as an Asgardian is revealed, before the action intensifies. He comments, “You get a chance to see Volstagg with his family, which was a big surprise. I’ve got these naughty cherubic sort of bouncy kids, which is just a lot of fun.”

Joining the cast to play Fandral is Zachary Levi. Discussing picking up the reins of Fandral, he says, “I like the character of Fandral. He’s different to anything I’ve ever been able to play. He speaks with an English accent, is very blunt and is a total lothario, lady’s man. I love all that; it’s just really fun. He’s very Errol Flynn.”

Christopher Eccleston is new to the cast and takes on the role of arch villain, Malekith. On developing the character of Malekith he says, “I wanted Malekith to have a sense of humor, because I think a sense of humor indicates intelligence and if you’ve got an intelligent villain that means that your heroes have to be really accomplished to beat them.”

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who plays the dual roles of dark elf Algrim and Kurse, was delighted to join the cast and take on a complex dual role. “I think every boy and girl grows up with super heroes, comic books, Marvel in their childhood, so to be part of that history, it’s a privilege,” states Adewale. Describing his characters, he says, “I suppose Algrim and Kurse would be the quintessential baddies, but in reality they are what I perceive as the scorn and the victims of the story. They are the elves who have basically lost their planet and their race to another race, the Asgardians.”

The last piece of the exciting jigsaw was Loki and Tom Hiddleston. Hiddleston was delighted to step into Loki’s shoes once more. He says, “I feel like ‘Thor: The Dark World” is a chance as an actor to find new depth, new dimension, new iterations of Loki’s psychology, of his physicality and his capacity for feeling. On one level he is an off- the-rails psychopathic agent of chaos, but on a human level, his psychology and his emotional landscape is very, very interesting because he’s so intelligent and yet so broken. This film is a chance to find where his capacity for heroism and his Machiavellian menace meet.”

CREATING THE LOOK of Thor: The Dark World
With Malekith, the otherworldly villain in place, filmmakers were keen to give audiences relatable references and worlds. Director Alan Taylor was chief among those wanting to give the film grounding in reality, with a weathered texture and a grittier feel. Says Taylor, “When I came in, I wanted to get more of a sense of the Norse mythology, the Viking quality, the texture, the history and the weight.”

As a result, all aspects of “Thor: The Dark World,” —from the locations, the vast, largely exterior sets, the costumes, hair and make-up, to the armor, weapons, special and visual effects—have been carefully crafted to give a worn, humanizing, historical and grounded quality, with more nods to a Viking era than to science fiction.

Alan Taylor felt it was imperative that Thor’s home planet Asgard “feels like it has been there for centuries, that it has its own culture, that it really be a place you could believe in.” With these marching orders, production designer Charles Wood was tasked with bringing Asgard to life. “One big challenge was to make the film as fantastical as possible, because that’s the nature of this type of film, but also to ground the film and make the environments that we created tangible and realistic.”

Wood continues, “In the first film we were generally within the palace, whereas in this film we actually explore the city as well. We wanted to be true to the idea both within the Marvel Universe and within Norse mythology that Asgard was a golden city, but again we wanted to bring a sense of history to this world.  We wanted to suggest that Asgard as an environment had been around for many thousands of years.”
To create Asgard and further worlds within the Nine Realms with believability, the director and filmmakers felt the best way to help achieve this was to use a combination of real locations and expansive, detailed sets, built largely outside.

Creating Asgard was the biggest challenge of all and also involved the largest number of sets. For their initial inspiration Wood and his team looked to the comic books and at all the material they could find on Thor and the environments that writer Kirby had produced. They then took their research wider, as Wood explains, “We also looked at images on the Internet, whether architectural or whether it was atmospheric, anything we could find that we felt could have related to the film. We studied all sorts of different historical and modern architectural influences, whether it was Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, Chinese or Islamic architectural forms. We also studied light and  atmosphere. We then went to the studio and met everyone and Alan Taylor and got their take on it and from that point we essentially started conceptualizing.”  

The film shot between October and December 2012 at Shepperton Studios in England, with key locations in London—Greenwich, Wembley, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Borough Market and Hayes—Bourne Wood in Surrey and Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, and Iceland.




-  We get some lovely new hi res stills from Thor: The Dark World featuring Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Kronan, Loki in prison, Malekith's arrival, Sif and Heimdall 

Thor: The Dark World Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and a Kronan ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Loki (Tom Hiddleston) in prison ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Malekith arrives (Chris Eccleston) ZOOM

Thor The Dark World Thor (Chris Hemsworth) ZOOM

Thor The Dark World Sif (Jaimie Alexander) & Thor (Chris Hemsworth) ZOOM

Thor The Dark World Chris Hemsworth ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Heimdall (Idris Elba) ZOOM

-  Thor: The Dark World Character posters

Thor: The Dark World Thor Character Banner ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Loki Character Banner ZOOM

- We get Some surprising facts about Thor: The Dark World that you may not know about...

- In “Thor: The Dark World” more of the Nine Realms are introduced, offering a better understanding of the history and complexities of Thor’s universe. The Nine Realms are taken from Norse mythology and refer to the nine worlds that are supported by Yggdrasil, an immense ash tree, central to Norse cosmology. Asgard is depicted at the top and Earth, known as Midgard, in the middle. In the original “Thor,” Yggdrasil was established as a cosmic structure formed by a series of interwoven wormholes linking the nine worlds (Realms) together.

- The Medina/streets of Asgard set is the biggest set ever built for a Marvel film. One can actually walk around the streets of Asgard and see the shops, the pubs and the training ground.

- An aerial camera crew flew to the Dettifoss waterfall in Iceland (Europe’s most powerful waterfall) to film the cascading waters from every angle so that the waterfalls ringing Asgard could be rendered realistically by the computers to replicate the world.

- Filming in Iceland involved remote locations where the crew had to drive for hours from the airport just to get to their hotels. Then, to get to the fields of volcanic ash that stood in for The Dark World, they drove for up to two hours more.

- A close look at the set decorating for Jane Foster’s London apartment would reveal sheet music on the piano that reads: “Thor The Thunder God.”

Photos of young Jane Foster in the apartment set were courtesy of Natalie Portman’s mother, who keeps a binder filled with photos of Natalie at different ages for occasions like this.

- There were about 30 hammers made for Thor of various weights for different uses. The master hammer is made from aluminum but it is replicated in different materials and weights, including a “soft” stunt version. Of the 30, five versions are used most often, including the “lit hammer,” that emits light when lightning strikes.

The design of Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer, was changed from the version Thor wielded in “Marvel’s The Avengers.” The new hammer has more of a sense of history and age to it and its grip is more aligned to the hammer Thor used in “Thor.”

- The inscription on Thor’s hammer, written in Norse runes, translates to: “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”

- Prop master Barry Gibbs and his team of 18 technicians designed/produced 140 weapons in 10 weeks, then went on to make four more of each weapon for a grand total of 516 weapons for the Marauders to use in the battle scenes. This is before he even got into making the principal weapons for Thor, Odin, Volstagg, Heimdall, Sif, etc.

Thor and Odin each have one look in costuming, but Thor needs 15 sets of his costume as he does so many stunts and action scenes. Odin has about 6 repeats of his costume.

David White, the designer of the dark elves and the prosthetic effects on “Thor: The Dark World,” designed and created 40 suits for the dark elves, utilizing 100 technicians over a 3 ½ month period. The off-world look was derived from diverse ethnic and tribal elements.

- The stunt men and extras playing the dark elves had to go through a training period where they practiced standing tall and proud since the dark elves are envisioned to be a noble people. Prosthetics designer David White helped out too by designing the helmet so that the eye line was slightly pulled down, forcing the actors to tilt their heads slightly up and back, which gave them a very proud, strong feel.

- Both Christopher Eccleston and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who play the dark elves Malekith and Algrim, respectively, had to memorize their dialogue written in an elven language that was created specifically for the film.

- The film shot between October and December 2012 at Shepperton Studios in England, with key locations in London—Greenwich, Wembley, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Borough Market and Hayes—Bourne Wood in Surrey and Stonehenge in Wiltshire. For the look of the dark elves’ world, Svartalfheim, the filmmakers chose Iceland for its black, volcanic landscapes.

- Before sending helicopters to film over historic Greenwich, England, on a quiet Sunday morning, the location crew dropped 4,000 letters in the area: 2,000 on one side of the river and 2,000 on the other side of the river, explaining to the residents what was going to be happening.

- Filming at the famous Stonehenge historical site proved to be a challenge. After finally getting permission from English Heritage, the filmmakers found out that there were lots of rules and regulations associated with filming there. They could only be in amongst the stones outside of the normal visiting hours. So shooting had to take place early in the morning before opening, which only gave the film crew about three hours before they had to pull back for wider shots once the stones were opened to the public. Being a heritage site, no one was allowed to touch the stones or walk on any stones, so a lot of logistics had to be applied to the filming there.




- Thor: The Dark World gets a full trailer






- We get a familiar new look Thor: The Dark World poster

Thor: The Dark World Poster ZOOM

Thor: The Dark World Comic-Con Poster ZOOM

- Thor: The Dark World title art is revealed

Thor: The Dark World title art is revealed ZOOM

- Finally Thor: The Dark World gets a teaser trailer and we see London get attacked





- We get the first 3 stills from Thor: The Dark World

Marvel's Thor: The Dark World Thor (Chris Hemsworth) ZOOM

 Is that Loki fighting Dark Elves behind Thor?

Marvel's Thor: The Dark World Thor (Chris Hemsworth) & Odin (Sir Anthony Hopkins) Shoot Day 17 ZOOM

Marvel's Thor: The Dark World Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) Shoot Day 45 ZOOM

First look: Thor: The Dark World Teaser Poster - ZOOM

- Official synopsis for Thor: The Dark World is released

MARVEL STUDIOS THOR: THE DARK WORLD (inDigital 3D and RealD)
Marvel’s "Thor: The Dark World" continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that pre-dates the universe itself.  In the aftermath of Marvel’s "Thor" and "Marvel’s The Avengers," Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos...but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness.  Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano and Jaimie Alexander with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” is directed by Alan Taylor, produced by Kevin Feige, from a story by Don Payne and screenplay by Christopher Yost and Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely and is based on Marvel’s classic Super Hero Thor, who first appeared in the comic book “Journey into Mystery “ #83 in August, 1962.

“Thor: The Dark World” is presented by Marvel Studios. The executive producers are Alan Fine, Nigel Gostelow, Stan Lee, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso and Craig Kyle. The film releases in the UK on October 30, 2013, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins as Odin

For more information about Thor: The Dark World head over to:
https://www.facebook.com/marveluk
https://twitter.com/MarvelUK





Thor: The Dark World in cinemas 30 October 2013
Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

Directed by: Alan Taylor
Written by: Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Don Payne, Robert Rodat, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christopher Eccleston

The Establishing Shot: COUNTDOWN TO - THOR: THE DARK WORLD - ALL THE THOR: THE DARK WORLD UPDATES YOU NEED - IMAGES, POSTERS, TRAILERS AND NEWS