Thor introduced moviegoers to the otherworldly locales Asgard and Jotunheim, two of the Nine Realms of Yggdrasil (Earth or Midgard as it’s also known as is another), home of Thor’s people and the Frost giants, respectively. In the Alan Taylor-directed sequel, fans are going to journey further and deeper into the Marvel cosmos.
Where the first film pitted Asgard against Frost Giants, Thor: The Dark World aims to introduce another seemingly villainous faction in the Dark Elves, led by Christopher Eccleston’s Malekith the Accursed. Thanks to the production moving into public locations, we have our first look at the Dark Elf costumes and leader.
Malekith the Accursed is a supervillain in the Marvel Universe. He is ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim, and has come into conflict with Thor. Created by Walt Simonson, Malekith first appeared in Thor #344-349 (June-November 1984). Malekith has all the normal attributes of a member of the race of dark elves, although his abilities are as a result of above-average development. He possesses superhuman intellect, strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, and reflexes.As a dark elf, Malekith also has the ability to manipulate the forces of magic for a variety of effects, including teleportation, energy projection, physical malleability, flight (by transforming into mist), illusion casting, and the ability to change the shape and appearance of other beings or objects. Malekith has a vulnerability to iron, which disrupts or cancels his magical spells.
Marvel Studios, since they have all the source material and Marvel Comic artists at hand, are well-suited to adapting designs, characters and environments from the books to live-action, even when it comes to adding originality and fleshing out the lore. The costumes look great and so the bigger question we have is the reason behind Malekith and his Dark Elves being on Earth.
By all accounts (much of which is hearsay or rumored), Thor 2 will introduce showcase all of the nine realms of Norse mythology, potentially spending significant time on Svartalfheim (home of the Dark Elves) and Muspelheim (home of Surtur and his fire demons). How much time will be spent on Asgard, Earth and the other realms remains to be seen.
Iron Man 3 releases May 3, 2013, Thor: The Dark World on November 8, 2013, Captain America: The Winter Soldier on April 4, 2014, Guardians of the Galaxy on August 1, 2014, The Avengers 2 on May 1, 2015 and Ant-Man on November 6, 2015.
We are always on the search for comic and movie news at Comics Talk. Stay tuned comic and movie faithful for more. 🙂 Walt