We are just under three months away from the return of Thor and Loki in theaters with Thor: The Dark World set to hit American theaters on November 8. Though last Wednesday's new trailer didn't give away much, we did catch a few glimpses of some of the villains Thor will be taking on both on Earth and in other realms. Let's do some research and find out who Thor will do battle against in The Dark World.
Thor will face off against many villains over the course of The Dark World, the greatest of these, outside of his own brother, Loki, will be Malekith, ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim. The most powerful of these Dark Elves went by the name Algrim the Strong and it is Algrim, who in the comics stood 7'0" and weighed over 800 pounds, that will likely provide the Thunderer with his greatest physical challenge in this film.
Verily, Thunderer, thine arse hast been handed to thee by Kurse
Of huge interest to both the events of Avengers and Thor: The Dark World is that the Svartalfheim have their own bridge to Earth via an inter-dimensional nexus called the Cotsworld. It is likely that we saw a glimpse of this inter-dimensional bridge in the recent trailer and that Stonehenge may be the place they chose to shoot it.
Could this scene be a parallel to the battle described below? Kurse stands just right of an elevated Jane Foster.
It is at the Cotsworld that Thor and Algrim have their first encounter after Malekith captured Lorelei, an Asgardian who had used a potion to make Thor fall in love with her. In Thor's efforts to rescue Lorelei he was ambushed by Algrim and the two fought to a near standstill until Malekith, unconcerned for his pawn, Algrim, opened the earth beneath their feet, dropping them both towards a pit of lava. Thor was able to summon Mjolnir and use it to fly to safety while Algrim was left to die in the lava being spared from death only because of the enchanted armor he wore.
Algrim survived the fall and became obsessed with having his vengeance on Thor, blaming him and not Malekith for his pain as the memories of just how it happened were repressed. Thor and Algrim, or Kurse, did battle again, with Kurse's strength much greater than it had been before yet Thor, once again bested Kurse. During the battle Kurse's memories of how he came to fall into the lava began to return to him and his hatred turned towards Malekith. Kurse was sent both to Hel and Asgard in search of Malekith before finding him and killing him, completing his vengeance. Kurse's story ends as one of redemption as he is eventually accepted in Asgard after having helped defend the Realm Eternal against an attack of the Frost Giants.
We will certainly see Thor and Kurse battle more than once during the film, once, no doubt, following the events in the screen cap above where Malekith does some magical-no-goodness to Jane. Just how Kurse's entire story will be played out is unknown, but with Thor likely having his hands full with his own brother, it is possible that Kurse might redeem himself and take out his former master, Malekith.
Algrim/Kurse will be played by former Lost fan favorite Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. A physically imposing man to begin with, Agbaje will spend much of the film in over 40 pounds of armor doing quite a bit of fighting and stunt work but promises that we will see Kurse throw down with just about everyone in the film.