Thor: The Dark World Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, and Rene Russo. In "Thor: The Dark World", Thor teams up with Loki to save the Nine Realms from the Dark Elves led by the vengeful Malekith, who intends to plunge the universe into darkness. Development of "Thor: The Dark World" began in April 2011, when producer Kevin Feige announced plans for a sequel to follow the crossover film "The Avengers". In July 2011, Kenneth Branagh, the director of "Thor", withdrew from the project. Brian Kirk and Patty Jenkins were considered to direct the film before Taylor was hired in January 2012. The supporting cast filled
Thor (Marvel Comics) five issues later. Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "the adventures of Thor were gradually transformed from stories about a strange-looking superhero into a spectacular saga." Artist Chic Stone, who inked several early Thor stories, observed that "Kirby could just lead you through all these different worlds. The readers would follow him anywhere." "Journey into Mystery" was retitled "Thor" (per the indicia, or "The Mighty Thor" per most covers) with issue #126 (March 1966). "Tales of Asgard" was replaced by a five-page featurette starring the Inhumans from #146–152 (Nov. 1967 – May 1968), after which featurettes were dropped and the