Production on Marvel’s sequel to Thor is set to get underway very shortly in London, and we’re starting to get an idea of what to expect from the superhero follow-up.  The studio officially announced the sequel’s title, Thor: The Dark World, at Comic-Con last week and fans began wondering what the subtitle could be referencing.  Mads Mikkelsen was in talks to play the film’s villain, but subsequently had to drop out of the running due to scheduling issues with the NBC series Hannibal.  The nature of that villain was unknown, but now thanks to an obscure interview we may have been clued in to what baddies Thor will face in his big screen return.  Hit the jump for more.malekith-the-accursedOver a month ago, the folks over at I Review Too (via CBM) conducted an interview with stunt man James Grogan.  The interview was only recently picked up by major outlets, but for good reason:

Whilst discussing the importance of acting chops in stunt work, Grogan related the experience to a certain Marvel film that he’s currently training for. “The other day for example, this is quite random but I was working on Thor 2,” he explains, “I had a load of stunt guys in and the director came in and he said ‘Look, we want you all to be elves,’ and I was like ‘What the hell is an elf anyway?’ and he said ‘I want you all to walk around like these supernatural animals,’ honestly it was the most ridiculous thing ever but you just have to not be self aware and get on with it.”

Now the Dark World subtitle is starting to make a bit more sense.  It seems to be referencing the Dark Elves, which would infer that the villain of the film would be the Dark Elves’ leader, Malekith the Accursed.  Marvel's Kevin Feige has been saying all along that the Thor sequel would further explore other realms in the Thor universe as well as more of Asgard, so this elf storyline is in keeping with that idea.  The Dark Elves in the comics are humanoid creatures, so they wouldn’t necessarily need a heavy amount of makeup like the Frost Giants in Thor.  Here’s a rundown of Malekith’s abilities, via Wikipedia:

Malekith has all the normal attributes of a member of the race of dark elves, although his abilities are as a result of above average development. He possesses a gifted intellect, and superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, and reflexes.

As a dark elf, Malekith also has the ability to manipulate the forces of magic for a variety of effects, including teleportation, energy projection, physical malleability, flight (by transforming into mist) illusion casting, and the ability to change the shape and appearance of other beings or objects.

Malekith has a vulnerability to iron, which disrupts or cancels his magical spells.

We know that Tom Hiddleston is returning as Loki in The Dark World, and a popular comics storyline has Malekith the Accursed teaming up with Loki to track down the Casket of Ancient Winters.  Sounds about right.  Though nothing’s been confirmed, I wouldn’t be shocked if Malekith ends up being the main villain in Thor 2.  Directed by Alan Taylor, the film is slated for release on November 8th, 2013.