"Thor: The Dark World" (2013)

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Tom Hiddleston
Written by Christopher Yost, Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely
Directed by Alan Taylor
Rated PG-13 - Fantasy/sci-fi violence and action, language
Running Time: 112 Minutes
Trailer

Ages ago, an army of Dark Elves led by the vicious Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) waged war to control a powerful weapon called the Aether, capable of sapping the life out of the very universe itself. He was stopped by the forces of Asgard, led by Bor, father of Odin (Anthony Hopkins). The Dark Elves were defeated, Malekith and his lieutenant Algrim (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) sacrified most of their warriors to buy their escape and wait until the time was right to strike again.

That time is now, thousands of years later as the Nine Realms once again move into alignment, weakening the dimensional borders in a way that would allow the Aether to spread across the entire universe more quickly. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has spent the last couple years bringing peace and order back to the Nine Realms after the events of the first film and beating back the Chitauri invasion of Earth. He pines for Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) the human woman he fell for during his exile there, and his friends and father all notice the difference in him.

Foster, meanwhile, similarly wishes for Thor's return to Earth as she investigates a series of strange electromagnetic disturbances in London with her trusty intern Darcy (Kat Dennings) and her mentor Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgaard), who has somewhat lost his mind after the trauma of being brainwashed by Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Back on Asgard, Loki is imprisoned for his crimes against Asgard and for leading the invasion of Earth.

All these storylines will come crashing together when Foster accidentally discovers the location of the Aether and becomes infected by it, drawing Thor to her side to protect her and Malekith to seek her out in order to use her to destroy the known universe.