Set Visit: Chris Hemsworth Talks ‘Thor: The Dark World’

What do we really know about "Thor: The Dark World"?

For Asgard-thirsty Marvel fans, the answer is likely: not enough! And while Marvel's super-secretive ways will likely insure that answer remains the same till opening day (on November 8), we can now reveal to you the full transcript from our roundtable interview with Chris Hemsworth, conducted during a set visit in London, late last year.

Obviously, Marvel's head honcho Kevin Feige knows how keep his superheroes properly mum, as Hemsworth had to sheepishly avoid some of our more specific questions, but the interview does leave us knowing some more about the epic scale of "The Dark World," even if it's just enough to make us even more thirstier for November.

Here's what we found out:

On where we find Thor when the film begins…

Chris Hemsworth: Basically, Avengers is kind of a side-step amongst everything for all the journeys. This is certainly a continuation of it but at the same time, Thor’s journey picks up from where we left the first one. He's about to take on the throne, earning the right to be king, and now coming to the realization of what responsibility comes with that. Also, Alan [new director Alan Taylor] keeps talking about the dark side of that responsibility, and the secrets with being king, and becoming very political about what people need to know, and what they want to know.

Obviously, Tom [Hiddleston] is on set, so that's continuing. It's great to have some meatier stuff with Tom. Certainly in "Avengers," the stuff I got to sink my teeth into were those scenes. Following up our relationship and the ongoing question from Thor about what it is that Loki wants, and why, and how did we come to this? I think we get to possibly attack some of those questions properly.

[Related: ‘Thor: The Dark World’ Teaser Trailer Unleashes the Dark Elves]

On whether it will be as funny as "The Avengers"…

CH: Probably not, because Downey’s not in it, so that takes cares of that for us. Yeah, Natalie [Portman] and Kat Dennings certainly have some great humor. There's a few nice fish out of water moments with Thor, but not quite as naïve obviously as in the first one. I think the earthbound stuff really grounds this story in both films and keeps a lightness to it that trickles through Asgard as well.

On the balance of time between Asgard and Earth…

CH: It’s certainly set in both worlds, pretty substantially, like last time – pretty similar. We certainly see more of Asgard and more of the Nine Realms in this film than we did in Thor. "Thor" was just on Asgard, this time, there’s a bigger universe out there which we get to explore.

On working with director Alan Taylor vs. Kenneth Branagh…

CH: Obviously, two different people and you get two completely different styles, but also you get two very different stories: origin story vs. part of this ongoing… it’s moving now… especially since "Avengers."

So you know, they certainly didn’t come in with this angle or attitude on how Thor should be. We all sort of knew where it was headed, but I think we had the same want to elevate it and take it to that next level. Alan, you can even see with the set design, wanted to ground it in a more organic tone. "Game of Thrones" obviously is set in a reality-based world but there’s fantasy elements that are quite prominent, which is similar to what we have going on here.

On Thor’s relationship with Odin [Anthony Hopkins] and the Lady Sif [Jaimie Alexander]…

CH: In the comic books there’s obviously an attraction with Thor and Sif and what have you. There was a little peppering of that, I think, in the first one – little hints at it. There may be more indications in this one… [I’m being] a politician.

The stuff with Odin is interesting because you've gotta have the right amount of conflict in order for this to be interesting. The conflict between Thor and Odin was so great in the first one and you didn’t want to repeat that, so certainly they disagree as they always will at times. But there’s a far greater respect from each other, so it becomes a more mature conversation, but there’s more at stake this time too. It’s not just their individual egos, the whole universe is at stake.

[Related: Marvel Studios Comic Con 2013 Panel]

On Loki and Thor's path…

CH: I think in the comic books, you kind of roll your eyes sometimes at the amount of times that they’re back to being best friends. So we wanted to keep in mind that he did just try to kill you for the seventh time, and Earth and millions of people and what have you, so… maybe there’s something we both need, a common need or something, which therefore…

The scene in "Avengers" where Thor says, "Careful how you speak. This may be crazy, but that’s my brother,” kind of sums it up: "Yeah he’s a screw-up, but he's my brother.” I don’t think they’re going to go back to being best friends, but Thor’s at a loss about how they got to this point, you know? Because so far it came out of nowhere. And I think then in this film, he can certainly acknowledge now with maturity that okay, he should have been more aware of Loki over the years, and where he is positioned in all of this, and why maybe that led him down a certain path. I think there’s maybe an empathetic view for Loki that maybe no one else can have because they’re not bound by blood.

On the individual "Avengers" films fitting into the greater Marvel Universe…

CH: They all link up in some way, but I think Marvel is pretty adamant about them being their own stories. I was wondering if we were going to start doing cameos in everyone’s film, but I guess that would take away from the impact of all of us when we do finally come together. So I think these stories, they kind of segue way off into their own world, and each of the Avengers are conveniently not around at the time.

And that’s the thing: You watch "Iron Man" now, or the trailer, and you go, "Where’s Cap? Where’s Thor? Where’s the Hulk? Are they on vacation or something?” But they’re being really smart about removing everyone in a way that hopefully takes care of that.

[Related: ‘Avengers 2′ Title Reveals Surprising New Baddie]

On seeing the greater Nine Worlds…

CH: We cover more ground than we did in the first one. We’re not locked just in Asgard. We certainly venture out into the bigger universe. The scope of this just feels massive, you know? We just were in Iceland for a week and there’s volcanic lava-rock mountains and snow-capped mountains and we didn’t see that in the first one, so it already feels like there’s a bigger expanse to it.

On which comics Hemsworth read to prepare for the role…

CH: I hadn’t read comics really before coming in to shooting the original "Thor." During that and beforehand, I read stacks and got my head around it all. We reference, especially when we were putting the script together before we started shooting, other stories. There wasn’t any specific thing where they said, "Read this." There were characters where we went, "Remember when in this episode where this guy got … and we said, 'Cool, we can use him here.'"

On the dynamic between Thor and Malekith [Christopher Eccleston]…

CH: This is tough without giving anything away again… We’re obviously not related.

On whether Malekith is more evil than Loki…

CH: Loki has a point, you know? Loki can have some redeeming qualities at times. He’s kind of lost his way as opposed to never having been on the right path to begin with, so that would be the difference between the two of them.

On whether or not there is a personal connection between Thor and Malekith…

CH: Oh, yeah, of course. It’s all bound in plenty of substantial and warranted conflict and disagreement.

On Jane [Portman] and Thor's arc…

CH: Obviously Natalie’s in the film, and it picks up where we left off with the bridge being broken between them and how do we fix that?

On whether Jane will be upset that Thor didn’t call…

CH: She will be, yeah.

[Related: Comic-Con MVP Tom Hiddleston Acts Out ‘Thor: The Dark World’… With Action Figures]

See Chris Hemsworth in the 'Thor: The Dark World' teaser trailer: