The second epic trailer for THOR: THE DARK WORLD is here! Plus Chris Hemsworth talks difference in tone, Loki vs Malekith, and exploring the Nine Worlds

THUNDERBOLTS AND LIGHTNING! After very nearly stealing the show at Comic-Con a few weeks back, I’ve been chomping at the bit to lay my eyeballs on some new footage from Loki’s- oops, sorry, I mean Thor’s new movie (though we all know who the real star is, right?). And now finally, the second trailer for Thor: The Dark World has arrived in a loud thunderclap complete with epic battles with gigantic creatures, amazingly fantastical vistas, cities getting leveled by dark elf ships and Loki getting slapped.

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 predates 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.

If you haven’t noticed yet, this film looks like it’s going to be a lot darker in tone when compared to the first flick, but as Hemsworth explained to Collider during a recent set visit, it will still have its moments of levity, just don’t expect The Avengers level of comedy.

“Probably not, because Downey’s not in it (laughter), so that takes cares of that for us. Yeah, Natalie and Kat Dennings certainly have some great humor and a few nice fish out of water moments with Thor but not quite as naïve obviously as the first one, but there is the sort of Earthbound stuff [that] sort of really grounds this story and in both films and keeps a lightness to it that trickles through Asgard as well.”

Speaking of The Avengers, Hemsworth revealed that despite this film taking place chronologically after Joss Whedon’s superhero mashup, this is more of a direct follow-up to the thunder god’s first solo film.

“Basically, Avengers is kind of a side-step in amongst everything for all the journeys – for the Iron Man, Thor – and this is certainly a continuation of it but at the same time, Thor’s journey I think picks up more so from where we left the first one; about to take on the throne, earning the right to be king and now coming to the realization of what responsibility comes with that. Also [the director Alan Taylor] keeps talking about the dark side of that responsibility and the secrets within being king and becoming very political about what people need to know and what they want to know. So… can I say anymore about it? Yeah, and obviously Tom [Hiddleston]’s on set so this is continuing which is great to have some meatier stuff with Tom. Certainly in the Avengers was the stuff I got to sink my teeth into [were] those scenes and following up our relationship and the ongoing question from Thor about what is it that Loki wants and why and how did we come to this? I think we get to possibly attack some of those questions properly.”

Some of those questions obviously bring to life the rather complex relationship between Thor and Loki, who in the first film was a rather sympathetic villain.

“I think that maybe there’s something we both.. a common need or something, which therefore, that would… you know the scene in Avengers where Thor says, “Careful how you speak. This may be crazy but that’s my brother” kind of sums up. I mean, yeah he’s a screw-up but “He is my brother” and I don’t think they’re going to go back to being best friends but there’s still, I think, Thor’s at a loss about how they got to this point, you know? Because I think so far it came out of nowhere, and I think then in this film, you can certainly acknowledge with a maturity that okay, he should have been more aware of Loki over the years and where he is positioned in all of this and why maybe that led him down a certain path. So I think there’s maybe an empathetic view of Loki that maybe nobody else can have ‘cause they’re not bound by blood, you know?”

And if you’re afraid that all this familial affection means that Thor will have nobody to hit with that giant hammer of his, don’t worry, there’s still Chris Eccleston’s dark elf Malekith, who is a completely different beast to Loki.

“Loki has a point, you know? Loki has some redeeming qualities at times and he’s kind of lost his way as opposed to never having been on the right path to begin with, so that would be the difference between the two of them.”

“[Thor’s relationship with Malekith] is all bound in plenty of substantial and warranted conflict and disagreement…”

One thing that’s appealing to me the most about Thor: The Dark World is how director Alan Taylor (who made his name on HBO’s Game of Thrones) is seemingly taking the film away from the more bright comic-book-ness that director Kenneth Branagh brought in the first film, and making it more straight up gritty sword and sandal fantasy.

“Obviously, two different people and you get two completely different styles but also two very different stories: origin story vs. part of this ongoing… it’s moving now… especially since Avengers… so you know… they certainly didn’t come in with the Anglo attitude on how Thor should be. We all sort of knew where it was headed but I think had the same [need to] want to elevate it and take it to the next level and Alan, you can even see with the set design, he said, “Why don’t you ground it in a more organic tone?” Game of Thrones is definitely set in a reality based world but there’s fantasy elements that are quite prominent and that is similar to what we have going on here.”

Getting over the origin story hump also allows Taylor to now start truly exploring the expansive mythology of the Nine Worlds.

“I think this is certainly…we cover more ground than we did in the first one. We’re not just locked in Asgard. We certainly venture out into the bigger universe but the scope of this just feels massive, you know? We were just in Iceland for a week and there’s volcanic lava rock mountains and snow-capped mountains and we didn’t see that in the first one so it already feels like there’s a bigger expanse to it.”

It’s that bigger, truly mythological scope and more fantasy-centric leanings – plus, with me being a Doctor Who fanatic, having an ex-Time Lord as the villain certainly doesn’t hurt the film at all – that has resulted in me being more excited for this – with the exception of James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy – than anything else in Marvel’s Phase Two.

Thor: The Dark World will be dropping the hammer on cinemas on November 8, 2013, which just cannot come soon enough for me.

Last Updated: August 8, 2013