Thor: The Dark World director says "major" plot changes happened in post-production following edits and reshoots

Thor: The Dark World
(Image credit: Marvel)

Thor: The Dark World is generally considered one of the lower-tier Marvel movies, and it's not exactly hard to see why. The villain, Malekith, barely makes an appearance, while Natalie Portman's Jane Foster and Chris Hemsworth's Thor have little-to-no chemistry (despite having genuine moments in the first Thor).

Director Alan Taylor has confessed to having been perplexed somewhat by the experience. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the filmmaker revealed how the movie's story changed in "major" ways throughout post-production, with reshoots and edits altering the ending.

"The version I had started off with had more childlike wonder; there was this imagery of children, which started the whole thing," he told the publication. 

"There was a slightly more magical quality. There was weird stuff going on back on Earth because of the convergence that allowed for some of these magical realism things. And there were major plot differences that were inverted in the cutting room and with additional photography – people [such as Loki] who had died were not dead, people who had broken up were back together again. I think I would like my version."

Taylor – who has helmed episodes of the world's best TV shows, including The Sopranos, Lost, Mad Men, and Game of Thrones – added that he had initially been brought in by Marvel president Kevin Feige to change the tonal intention of the sequel, hoping to make The Dark World, well, dark. "Kevin Feige was always smart about looking at what worked and didn't in the last iteration and trying to retool from that," Taylor said. "So I came in to 'bring some Game of Thrones to it.'"

The director added that he admires fellow Marvel directors Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) or James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy)  who bring their personal vision and "manage to combine it with the big corporate demands".

Taylor's next movie is The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark. For more, check out the most exciting upcoming movies heading your way.

Jack Shepherd
Freelance Journalist

Jack Shepherd is the former Senior Entertainment Editor of GamesRadar. Jack used to work at The Independent as a general culture writer before specializing in TV and film for the likes of GR+, Total Film, SFX, and others. You can now find Jack working as a freelance journalist and editor.