Thor: The Dark World

Many years ago some Marvel executives sat in what I imagine as a dark room and began mapping out their dream for the years to come. A plan to bring the greatest heroes this side of DC together in a daring, original, and thrilling collaboration that was the Avengers. Many fans were concerned after the experience of the Avengers of them returning to the individual movies that where the fantastic building blocks. After Iron Man 3 confirmed for many that the lightning in the bottle couldn't be caught twice Marvel answered with Thor: The Dark World.... We all should have trusted Marvel.

Many years ago...(before the executives sat down together) Thor's grandfather defeated a race of elves. Not the kind that live in a workshop and make toys or the kind that help hobbits but the kind that wants to destroy the world with a nasty device called Aether. At least he thought he did... Every story needs protagonists so the nastiest of the elves escape and have now returned. They easily retake the Aether that had been taken from them and begin their plan to destroy the world again and if Thor wants to stop them, he has to take help from his greatest enemy: Loki.

Marvel movies have been consistently the lighter, happier (but not near as good) counterpart to the dark, intense Nolanesque DC Comics movies. The Dark World is as close to a Nolan movie that Marvel has come... and it benefits from it. The risk is higher, the action darker, and the movie is better. In my opinion Thor The Dark World is the greatest Marvel movie to date and the best superhero movie this year.