‘Thor 2’ Poster Revealed: ‘The Dark World’ Scene Shows Chris Hemsworth Wielding Hammer In Snowstorm; Trailer Drops Next Week

The Thor 2: The Dark World poster was revealed today, showing Chris Hemsworth as Marvel's God of Thunder holding his hammer surrounded by lightning in a snowstorm.

The first trailer for Thor: The Dark World is expected to drop next week on April 23. In anticipation of the trailer, Marvel has revealed the first movie poster.

The poster itself doesn't reveal much - no enemies or other characters are shown aside from Thor, the Norse demigod.

Marvel President of production Kevin Feige said, "It doesn't get much badder than Chris Hemsworth as Thor," of the image of the demigod. He added, "It's rare that you have a poster that is just Chris Hemsworth shooting on the set. But he just looks like Thor. We just put in some lightning, and he's got his hammer and you're there. It's just an incredibly striking image."

Although Iron Man 3 has been dominating attention of Marvel fans with its spring release, the unveiling of the Thor sequel's poster has reminded moviegoers what we have to look forward to with the next adventure of the hammer-wielding superhero. 

The Dark World will reportedly pit Thor against the Dark Elves, led by Malekith. Christopher Eccleston of Dr. Who will play Malekith, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje will play his right hand, Algrim/Kurse. Thor will have to protect Asgard against an attack by the Dark Elves.

In the original Marvel comics, Malekith is the ruler of the dark elves of Svartalfheim, one of the nine worlds of Asgard. If the film stays true to the comics, we can expect the Dark Elves to possess superhuman strength, stamina, speed and intelligence.

Tom Hiddleston will return as Loki, Natalie Portman as Thor's love interest and scientist Jane Foster, and Kat Dennings as Foster's research assistant Darcy Lewis.

Stellan Skarsgard (Survivor in The Avengers, Eric Selvig), Idris Elba (Heimdall) and Jaimie Alexander (female warrior and childhood friend of Thor, Sif) will also return in the sequel.

In Thor, the demigod fell from grace, banished from Asgard and sent to Earth by his father. Thor reappeared in The Avengers in 2012, in which he teamed up with Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow to defeat his brother, Loki.

The Dark World is directed by Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor. Hemsworth has said that he hopes Taylor will bring some grittiness to the next Thor film.

He told Hero Complex of the LA Times last summer, "What I loved is [Game of Thrones] had a sort of mythical element to it, yet it was grounded in a really organic reality. And that's what I think would be nice about Thor 2 - if there were more sort of tangible environments to be involved in."

"The first Thor was sort of science fiction, and there were a lot of sets and things. It would be nice to kind of have Asgard as somewhat relatable and have big waterfalls and cliffs and mountains, and then have in the distance maybe several moons or suns or some sort of science-fiction element. But I think as an audience, it's much easier to be drawn in if it's something you feel a part of," Hemsworth said.

Hiddleston said that he hoped the sequel would mean redemption for his character, Loki.

"I hope so, I really hope so. I hope you can see glimmers of it in The Avengers. There's a bit where we're on the tower and Thor's like, 'Look around. You don't have to do this.'...Loki, I think, has been about as bad as he can be," the actor explained. 

Thor 2 will be released on November 8.