Thor: The Dark World

Thor: The Dark World is the 2013 sequel to Thor and the eighth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directed by Alan Taylor of Game of Thrones fame.

Following an assault on Asgard by Malekith the Accursed and his dark forces, The Mighty Thor teams up with his disgraced brother Loki, still imprisoned for his actions in The Avengers, and a possessed Jane Foster to breach the eponymous Dark World (a.k.a. Svartalfheim) and take the fight to their enemy.

Stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Anthony Hopkins as Odin and Christopher Eccleston as Malekith the Accursed.

Thor will return in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Tropes used in Thor: The Dark World include:

• Actually Pretty Funny: When Thor stops himself from punching his brother Loki, he says "[Mother] wouldn't want us to fight." Loki replies, "Well she wouldn't exactly be shocked..." Thor can't help but chuckle at that.
• Adaptational Wimp: Though it could easily be explained as Jane and Malekith not being able to channel its full power, the Aether/Reality Stone is a far cry from its comic counterpart.
• All There in the Manual: During the lead up to Avengers: Age of Ultron, it would be revealed that the Aether is the Reality Stone.
• Anti-Hero: Loki is an example of Nominal Hero; he's a convicted war criminal who's only going along with The Plan to save the world as a result of Frigga's death.
• Big Bad: At first, it is Loki, who plots to seek revenge on his brother for sending him to Earth and his evil plans to take over Earth. Near the climax of the movie, the real Big Bad is Malekith.
• Big No: Come on, Thor, get over your mother's death already!
• Bittersweet Ending: Thor is able to defeat Malekith and prevent the universe from being destroyed and ends up staying with Jane on Earth. However, he's lost his mother and his brother, and unbeknownst to him, Loki faked his death and he has usurped the throne from Odin, whose fate isn't revealed.
• Breather Episode: The last of four Lighter and Softer movies involving Natalie Portman herself following No Strings Attached, Your Highness, and the film that this is a sequel to, both comedy and superhero-drama wise, wedged in between the more graphically violent, twisted, and psychotic Black Swan, and the genocidal A Tale of Love and Darkness. While Thor and this film were Darker and Edgier and slightly more serious in contrast to No Strings Attached and Your Highness, which were Denser and Wackier and more comedic, it's still unusual to see Nat do a superhero movie, okay?
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: In Thor, the villain was Loki who was Thor's brother turned to villainy, so they were close and conflicted. Here, Malekith and the Dark Elves were from time thought legend and far less personal. Malekith doesn't even learn Thor's name.
• Darker and Edgier: The color scheme alone is a lot grimmer, there's a full-scale war, and Thor claims this time he's ready to kill Loki if his genocidal sibling steps out of line. Hell, even the title reflects this. On the other hand, there's still a lot of humor, and much of the final battle is a mix of humor and action.
• Disappointed by the Motive: Odin sounds like he's trying to convince himself not to break down in hysterical laughter over the fact that everything Loki did was motivated by his desire to rule something.
• Disney Death: Loki is fatally wounded while killing Algrim. During the Where Are They Now? Epilogue, it is revealed that he is still alive and gets what he wants: the throne of Asgard.
• Enemy Mine: Loki and Thor are forced to team up to stop new Big Bad Malekith.
• Fish Out of Water: Last time, Thor struggled to adjust to the world of Earth with Jane as his guide. Now the roles are reversed and it's Jane's turn to adjust to the other worlds of the Nine Realms. Surprisingly, she's quite comfortable with it.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: At his trial, Loki defends his actions by stating that it's his birthright to sit on a throne. Furious, Odin shouts that Loki's actual birthright was to die on a frozen rock.
• Genre Shift: With the introduction of Dark Elves, and increased screen time for Asgard, the film drifts towards Science Fantasy in terms of look and feel. At times it verges on Space Opera, with battles between ships and gun batteries full of laser fire and holographic interfaces, and much more travel to other worlds.
• Glassy Prison: Loki ends up in one of these in Asgard's dungeons, with energy fields instead of glass.
• A God I Am Not: When Loki tries to claim that he merely intended to rule Earth as a benevolent god, Odin counters that they're no more gods than Earthlings are. Loki counter-counters that they live a whole lot longer.
• Gravity Screw: The effect of the Nine Realms aligning themselves. Some things float, some bounce between different points or pop up in unexpected places. This is explained as the borders of the realms blurring.
• Hypocritical Humor: Loki tells Thor he can't solve all his problems by hitting things. This from a guy who twice tried to fix his self-image problems by destroying/conquering planets.
• I Have No Son: It's clear that Odin has totally washed his hands with Loki. For what it's worth, Loki says Odin isn't his father.
• Innocuously Important Episode: "It's not wise to keep two Infinity Stones so close together."
• Just Desserts: One Dark Elf gets eaten by a Jötunheim beast accidentally teleported to Earth.
• Just Hit Him: Averted. Kurse is much stronger than Thor, willing to literally beat him into the ground.
• Know When to Fold'Em: The Marauders on Vanaheim are willing to stand up to Asgard... right up until Thor turns their most powerful warrior into a pile of rubble. They peacefully surrender after that.
• Load-Bearing Boss: Malekith's defeat causes his ship to begin collapsing on Greenwich, due to the teleportation taking a good portion of the bottom of the ship with him.
• Logo Joke: In the trailer, the red background in the Marvel logo moves to show Thor's cape.
• Magic Knight: In battle, Frigga employs illusion spells and is very adept with a sword—Loki definitely takes after his adoptive mother in this regard (albeit with a preference for daggers).
• Mayfly-December Romance: Odin and Loki both remark on this concerning Thor's relationship with Jane. A human's one hundred year life span is "a heart beat" compared to Aesir who can live for thousands of years.
• Moment of Silence: Comes up after Frigga is killed by Kurse. Thor burns half of Malekith's face as this happens and tries to attack him more as he escapes.
• Nobody Poops: The prison cells on Asgard, holding prisoners from across the worlds and realms, are all constantly sparkling-clean and white-walled/floored with no evidence whatsoever of being equipped with toilets/latrines during the scenes where they appear.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Thor finds himself on the receiving end of an absolutely brutal one, courtesy of Kurse.
• Noodle Incident: Thor at one point chides Sif that she had so much fun celebrating the battle of Haragon that she nearly started a second one.
• Offing the Offspring: It's clear that Odin would have no issue doing this, if only for political reasons, but out of respect for Frigga's wishes, he sentences Loki to life in jail.
• Opening Monologue: "Long before the birth of light there was darkness, and from that darkness came the Dark Elves. Millennia ago the most ruthless of their kind, Malekith, sought to transform our universe back into one of eternal night. Such evil was blossomed through the power of the Aether, an ancient force of infinite destruction."
• Orange-Blue Contrast: Svartalfheim and Earth respectively; orange sky and blue sky.
• The Place: "The Dark World" is another name for Svartalfheim, home of the Dark Elves.
• Racial Remnant: Malekith's crew of Dark Elves are all that remain of them.
• Ramming Always Works: This appears to be the principle behind the smaller Dark Elf "Harrow" craft: they have no ranged weaponry apart from guns protecting the entrance, but are very resilient and shaped like flying daggers that ram and destroy Asgard's fighter skiffs or fortifications.
• Recruiting the Criminal: Thor enlists Loki's help due to his ability to find ways out of Asgard no-one else is aware of.
• Scenery Gorn: Svartalfheim is a wasteland.
• Scenery Porn: Asgard is still shiny and beautiful.
• Sealed with a Kiss: Jane and Thor in The Stinger.
• Shield-Bash: Sif uses her shield to hit an opponent during the battle in Vanaheim.
• Shipped in Shackles: Loki is escorted to his trial in heavy handcuffs, legcuffs and a metal collar interconnected with chains that are also wrapped around his waist, and is accompanied by ten Einherjar, elite Asgardian warriors holding those chains. With the God of Mischief who has just tried to conquer Earth, you can't be too sure.
• Shipper on Deck: Odin is pulling for Thor/Sif.
• Shirtless Scene: As in the first film, the sequel basically takes a 30-second break to show off Chris Hemsworth's rippling pecs before getting back to the story.
• Space Age Stasis: It doesn't like Asgard's technology has advanced in the 5000 years since the war with the Dark Elves.
• Theme Music Abandonment: The credits of the first film began with a song from Foo Fighters. This one sounds instead like European Power Metal.
• Those Two Guys: Volstagg and Fandral.
• Unfolding Plan Montage: Seen when Thor, Jane, etc. break Loki out of prison.
• Unrealistic Black Hole: The Dark Elves use small grenades that generate black holes, though the effect is very localized, when in reality it would attract everything within a way bigger radius.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: Tyr, who is Thor's older brother in the comics, is depicted as just another Asgardian warrior.
• Vanity Plate: A new one for Marvel Studios along with a fanfare (by this film's composer Brian Tyler) debuts in this film.
• Viking Funeral: In a particularly poignant scene, it is revealed that Asgardians bury their dead this way (fittingly, as they're a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Vikings).
• Witch with a Capital B: You get the impression that was what Malekith was going for when he finds out Frigga deceived him and he resorts to Suddenly Shouting the "W"-word.
• Year Outside, Hour Inside: For Jane, it was quick, but when she was teleported to another dimension and back, she had been missing for five hours.