Thor
Thor Odinson
Movie · Phase 2
Thor: The Dark World
2013 · 112 min
The Convergence, an alignment of the Nine Realms, punches holes in reality across London, and Jane Foster falls through one into a chamber containing the Aether. It bonds to her, which wakes…
The Infinity SagaDisney+66%Released
The story
The Convergence, an alignment of the Nine Realms, punches holes in reality across London, and Jane Foster falls through one into a chamber containing the Aether. It bonds to her, which wakes Malekith, a Dark Elf who has been asleep for five thousand years waiting to use it to unmake everything.
The film's actual subject is grief: Frigga's death drives Thor to break Loki out of prison and the two spend the middle act as the reluctant double act that Ragnarok would later build a whole film on. Loki's fake death and stolen throne are the only plot points that survive into the wider MCU.
Key facts
- Release date
- 8 Nov 2013
- Status
- Released
- Phase
- Phase 2
- Saga
- The Infinity Saga
- Runtime
- 112 min
- Certificate
- PG-13
- Director
- Alan Taylor
- Writers
- Christopher Yost, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
- Streaming
- Disney+
- Timeline placement
- 2013 — roughly a year after The Avengers, with a prologue five thousand years earlier
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Chris Hemsworth | Thor |
| Tom Hiddleston | Loki |
| Natalie Portman | Jane Foster |
| Christopher Eccleston | Malekith |
| Anthony Hopkins | Odin |
| Rene Russo | Frigga |
Characters
Easter eggs
- The mid-credits scene introduces Benicio del Toro's Collector receiving the Aether, and confirms on screen that it is one of six Infinity Stones — 'one down, five to go'.
- Stan Lee cameos as a patient in a mental ward asking for his shoe back during Selvig's lecture.
- Chris Evans cameos as Loki, who shapeshifts into Captain America to needle Thor about his moral posturing.
- Zachary Levi takes over Fandral from Josh Dallas; Levi had originally been cast in the role for the first Thor before a scheduling clash.
- Jane's Convergence data is the direct payoff to the dark-energy equations on Selvig's whiteboard in The Avengers.
- Loki briefly conjures the shape of a Frost Giant and a snake while stalling in his cell, both nods to his comic shapeshifting.
- The Dark Elves' Harrow ships and Kurse's design are drawn from Walter Simonson's 1980s Thor run, which introduced Malekith.
Trivia
- Patty Jenkins was attached to direct and left over creative differences before Alan Taylor, fresh off Game of Thrones, took over.
- Joss Whedon did uncredited rewrites, including the Loki-as-Captain-America gag and the brothers' bickering en route to Svartalfheim.
- Christopher Eccleston's Malekith dialogue is delivered in a constructed Dark Elf language created for the film, and Eccleston has since called the shoot miserable.
- Taylor publicly criticised Marvel's post-production process, saying the film was recut away from his intentions.
- The Greenwich climax was shot at the Old Royal Naval College, and the tonal 'portal' gags were added in reshoots.
- Natalie Portman was unavailable for some reshoots, so Hemsworth's stand-in kiss was performed with Portman's double and Hiddleston's wig double stood in for other pickups.
Box office
- Budget
- $170 million
- Worldwide
- $644.8 million
- Domestic
- $206.4 million
Reviews
Critics
66%
It may not be the ultimate Thor film fans have been hoping for, but The Dark World offers plenty of the humour and action that fans of the franchise expect.
The MarvelGossips verdict
The MCU's most anonymous film — a competent fantasy sequel with a villain who wants to turn out the lights and no reason given. Hemsworth and Hiddleston are so good together that you can feel Ragnarok trying to get out. The Convergence finale's portal gags are genuinely inventive, and they belong to a better movie.
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Frequently asked
What is the Aether?
The Aether is the Reality Stone in liquid form. The Collector takes possession of it in the mid-credits scene, and Thanos claims it from him in Avengers: Infinity War.
Does Loki actually die in The Dark World?
No. He fakes his death on Svartalfheim, returns to Asgard disguised as a soldier, and by the film's final scene has replaced Odin on the throne — a deception unravelled in Thor: Ragnarok.
Why does Captain America appear in Thor: The Dark World?
It is Loki shapeshifting. Chris Evans performs Loki-as-Cap in a scene Joss Whedon wrote during uncredited rewrites, mocking Thor's speech about honour.
Is Jane Foster's Aether exposure why she becomes Mighty Thor?
Thor: Love and Thunder ties her cancer to her earlier cosmic exposure only obliquely and never states it as cause. The film's stated reason for her powers is Mjolnir's enchantment, not the Aether.