There’s a part of me that almost feels like Thor: The Dark World has been overlooked.  There was no stinger for him in Iron Man 3, and Marvel is already pursuing their Captain America: The Winter Soldier marketing.  But there’s reason to be excited because this could be the Thor movie fans wanted for the character’s debut.  They wanted to see him in his element, in Asgard, and making full use of his god-like powers against gigantic foes.  Thor: The Dark World is promising all of that, and with the added bonus of giving the fans what they didn’t know they wanted back before the original movie came out: lots of Loki.

Hit the jump for my recap of the panel.  Thor: The Dark World opens in 3D on November 8th.

Marvel President Kevin Feige takes the stage. Moderator Chris Hardwicke asks Feige about what’s coming up next.  He says they’re in post-production on Thor: The Dark World, and then suddenly the lights go out as a familiar voice chastises the crowd for “standing in the sweltering heat,” and makes other snide taunts.  A flash of light hits the stage.  Then the house lights come up and it’s Tom Hiddleston dressed in his full Loki costume.  That alone gets a standing ovation from the crowd.

“Stand back, you mewling quim,” Loki tells Hardwicke.  Re-appropriating Avengers lines for Hall H, Hiddleston continues to menace the crowd, who are eating it up.  The crowd is eating it up.  “You should have let me rule you when you had the chance.  Where are your Avengers now?  Claim loyalty to me…and I will give you what you need.  Say my name.”  The crowd starts chanting “Loki!”  He smiles and says, “It seems I have an army.  Feast your eyes!”  The lights go down and the Comic-Con trailer begins to roll.

It begins with a battle in a burning village with Sif and Warriors Three fighting masked warriors.  Thor beams in, makes some quips with Sif, and slays a rock monster.  We then see London attacked, Thor beams in, nd beams Jane Foster out to Asgard.  We see him recruiting Loki, and the Warriors Three and Sif threaten to kill Loki if he betrays them.  This is interspersed with loads of action.  It’s tough to go beat by beat, but it looks exciting and finally lets Thor be Thor in a world that fits him.  It’s the grand tone we only briefly saw in the beginning of the first movie.  While I can’t go through every moment, I will say that the trailer ends with Loki slicing off Thor’s hand, a moment that was greeted with a collective gasp from the audience.

And that’s all we got for Thor: The Dark World.  No panel, no Q&A with Feige or Hiddleston.

Closing thoughts:

This was pure showmanship and one of the reason why people go nuts for Marvel’s panels.  People will argue later about which made a bigger splash: Tom Hiddleston taking the stage and doing Loki or last year where Downey came in from the back of Hall and dancing all the way up to the front.  Either way, it was a great kick-off for the 2013 Marvel panel, and yet not the shot in the arm Thor needed.  The panel felt bigger than the movie, and it was baffling that they didn’t do a panel when Captain America got one and so did Guardians of the Galaxy.  Even though I liked what I saw, Marvel’s handling of Thor: The Dark World continues to make me nervous.

Here's the video of Tom Hiddleston as Loki in Hall H