20 facts you might not know about ‘Thor: The Dark World’

There’s something interesting about Thor: The Dark World. Well, something is interesting about every Marvel movie, but The Dark World is particularly notable in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s the second “Thor” film, followed by two overtly comedic sequels directed by Taika Waititi. That leaves The Dark World kind of just floating there, but not necessarily in a bad way. If anything, that makes it more interesting. Here are 20 not-so-dark facts about the second film featuring the God of Thunder.

1 of 20The idea of a sequel came early (much to the director’s surprise)Disney

Marvel bigwig Kevin Feige first dropped the idea of a Thor sequel before Thor even hit theaters. As a response, Thor director Kenneth Branagh said, “It is kind of news to me. Here’s what I would say to that: It’s that I’m thrilled they’re that confident. I shall wait for the audience to tell us whether there should be a second one.” This led to Marvel walking their statement back a bit, but they stayed in production on a script for a sequel.

2 of 20When it was announced, Branagh stepped awayDisney

Eventually, the Thor sequel did get officially announced, to which Branagh said, “Thanks, but no thanks” to returning to direct. While the director said he was “very proud” of Thor, he also said he didn’t want to have to get into directing the sequel too quickly or commit his time to directing another special-effects-heavy film, which can be quite time-consuming.

3 of 20The next choice for director also backed outDisney

After Branagh declined, Marvel went to Brian Kirk. Kirk had never directed a film of this scope, but he had directed a few episodes of Game of Thrones, which is Thor adjacent in a lot of ways. However, Kirk didn’t like some of the stipulations in the contract he was offered, so he decided against it.

4 of 20’The Dark World’ got another director…who then leftDisney

Patty Jenkins was hired to direct the sequel to Thor following Kirk’s decision to pass. Then, a couple of months later, she also left the project, citing “creative differences.” Evidently, Jenkins wanted to make a story in the vein of Romeo and Juliet, but Marvel had other ideas. Jenkins spoke of no ill will toward Marvel, just a true difference in ideas for what the movie would be, and Jenkins would move over to DC to direct Wonder Woman.

5 of 20Finally, the movie found its directorDisney

Replacing Jenkins came down to two directors: Alan Taylor and Daniel Minahan. Taylor ended up with the gig, and after the flirtation with Kirk, it wasn’t surprising. Like Kirk, Taylor also directed episodes of Game of Thrones.

6 of 20The writing process was extensive and multifacetedDisney

Don Payne wrote the first draft of The Dark World. He ended up with a “story by” credit. Then, Robert Rodat was given a crack at the script. He also has “story by” credit. Ultimately, the screenplay is credited to Marvel’s go-to duo of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley and writer Christopher Yost. Yost was brought on to be the “comic book” guy. Most of his career has been writing comics and animated shows for Marvel, and his two prior movie credits before The Dark World were Marvel animated films.

7 of 20Two future MCU actors were considered for the filmDisney

Mads Mikkelsen was in the running to play a villain, presumably Malekith the Accursed but had to bow out due to scheduling issues. Eventually, he would play the villain in Doctor Strange . Speaking of which, Benedict Cumberbatch was also considered to play Malekith, and he would go on to play Doctor Strange himself.

8 of 20One actor replaced an actor that had replaced himDisney

Originally, Zachary Levi was going to play Fandral in Thor. However, due to the filming of Chuck, he couldn’t take the part and was replaced by Joshua Dallas. Dallas could not be in The Dark World because he had commitments to the TV show Once Upon a Time, so the part of Fandral was given to…Zachary Levi.

9 of 20Jaimie Alexander suffered a serious injury on setDisney

Alexander, who plays Sif, was seriously injured while filming the movie. It wasn’t during an action scene. No, the actress slipped on a metal staircase wet with rain on set. She slipped a disc, dislocated her shoulder, and tore some shoulder muscles. Alexander couldn’t shoot for a month.

10 of 20Natalie Portman had a stand in for one sceneDisney

In the post-credits scene where Thor and Jane kiss, that’s not Natalie Portman. Instead, it is Chris Hemsworth’s wife, Elsa Pataky. Don’t worry, this wasn’t some weird Kirk Cameron thing. Portman wasn’t available to shoot the scene, so if you need a stand-in for a kiss, why not go with the actor’s wife?

11 of 20They tried to be more realistic this time aroundDisney

The Dark World was shot around England and Iceland, and Taylor also brought on Kramer Morgenthau to serve as his director of photography, as the two had worked together on Game of Thrones. Morgenthau said he and Taylor wanted a “grittier” feeling to The Dark World, which was more akin to, yes, Game of Thrones and less fantastical.

12 of 20Chris Hemsworth’s hair is real this timeDisney

When making Thor, Hemsworth simply wore a wig over his natural hair. For The Dark World, the actor spent over a year growing his hair out so he wouldn’t need to wear a wig again.

13 of 20Filming at Stonehenge proved trickyDisney

If you get a chance to shoot at Stonehenge for a film like Thor: The Dark World, it makes sense to do so. However, that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Stonehenge is a protected site, and a lot of rules had to be adhered to. In addition to being unable to touch the stones, they could only shoot around the stones during non-visiting hours. They had to shoot for three hours in the morning before the space opened to visitors.

14 of 20A couple other Marvel people were involvedDisney

Joss Whedon, director of The Avengers, was brought in on The Dark World to rewrite a few scenes. Taylor went as far as to say Whedon “came in to save our lives” with his rewrites. Additionally, James Gunn directed the mid-credits scene that ties into his movie Guardians of the Galaxy.

15 of 20The film also replaced its composerDisney

Patrick Doyle, who composed the score for Thor, was in talks to return for The Dark World , but instead, they hired Carter Burwell. Burwell, an accomplished composer, is best known for scoring most of the Coen Brothers’ films. However, about a month in, Burwell left the project on the “creative differences” front. He was replaced by Brian Tyler, who had composed Iron Man 3.

16 of 20Chris Evans did an impression of an impressionDisney

Evans has an uncredited cameo in The Dark World  as Captain America, or Loki impersonates Captain America. To capture Loki’s impression, Tom Hiddleston donned a Captain America suit and did an impression of Evans’ performance as Captain America. Evans then did an impression of Hiddleston’s impression of him.

17 of 20The ending was totally reconfiguredDisney

Initially, this was going to be the end of Loki. The character was going to die, but test audiences came away believing the trickster god was not actually dead. Thus, reshoots were done to keep Loki alive at the movie’s end.

18 of 20It made more money than its predecessorDisney

Thor: The Dark World is one of the least critically popular MCU movies. It has a 66 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but it made plenty of cash. The movie made $206.4 million domestically and $644.8 million worldwide. It only took 19 days for the sequel to surpass Thor at the box office.

19 of 20The awards shut it outDisney

Usually, a Marvel movie is good for one or two Oscar nominations — though never a win — and some wins in the more “populist” award shows. However, The Dark World did not receive a single award of any kind. Hemsworth even lost Best Shirtless Performance at the MTV Movie Awards!

20 of 20Taylor had a bad time working on itDisney

One person who isn’t really a fan of The Dark World? Its director. Taylor has said he was unhappy with the final film and blamed Marvel for messing it up in post-production. Later, he would call directing the film “particularly wrenching” and said it made him consider giving up directing.