Disney reveals official synopsis for Thor: The Dark World

Come November 8, 2013, your local megaplex will be packed with comic book geeks hoping to be among the first to catch Marvel Studios’ latest superhero movie on the big screen. This particular upcoming blockbuster, dubbed Thor: The Dark World, is a sequel to 2011’s smash hit Thor, and reunites a massive swath of that film’s excellent cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Idris Elba, Kat Dennings and Anthony Hopkins.

Of course, you could have learned all of that by simply perusing the film’s IMDB listing, but notably lacking from that site is an official, Disney-approved synopsis of what fans can expect from the flick’s plot. Fortunately, such a thing appeared this morning, as Disney opted to issue a synopsis for Thor: The Dark World to those who write about such things for a living.

Have a look:

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.

Further, Disney also included an official cast and credits listing:

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, “Thor: The Dark World” is directed by Alan Taylor, produced by Kevin Feige, from a story by Don Payne (credit not final) and screenplay by Christopher Yost and Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (credit not final)…

“Thor: The Dark World” is presented by Marvel Studios. The executive producers are Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Victoria Alonso, Craig Kyle and Nigel Gostelow. The film releases November 8, 2013, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Most intriguingly though (assuming you’d already gleaned most of that plot info from earlier reports on the film), Disney confirms that Thor: The Dark World is based on a classic Thor comic, specifically Journey Into Mystery Volume 1, Number 83. While you can find a description of that particular issue in the official Marvel Wiki, those of you with subscriptions to Marvel’s Digital Comics Unlimited service — a system that allows Marvel Comics fans to read tens of thousands of the company’s comics online — can actually read the entire issue in question by visiting this site. Just ignore the notice that claims Journey Into Mystery #83 was first published in 1952; the issue actually appeared in August of 1962.

So Thor fans, what say you? Excited for this tale? Excited to see Chris Hemsworth once again lead a film as an overly-muscular Norse deity? If so, does the absence of Kenneth Branagh do anything to temper your anticipation? Branagh directed the original Thor, and while that film wasn’t widely praised specifically for his directorial decisions, his prior work as a notable Shakespearean actor/director seemingly made the melodrama in Thor more palatable for mainstream viewers than it normally might have been. As excited as we are for Thor: The Dark World, we’re equally nervous that switching to a new director (in this case, Marvel has tapped Alan Taylor, an auteur best known for helming episodes of Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire and Game Of Thrones) might somehow hobble this wing of Marvel Studios’ expansive cinematic superhero empire.