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Does Tony Stark have more to fear than the Mandarin? Does Thor have a greater adversary than Malekith? Should they all be quaking in their suits with Superman and his fellow DC heroes approaching?
Today, Marvel released the first trailer for Thor: The Dark World, which in November will follow Iron Man 3 in the comic book studio's "Phase 2" of superhero movies — that is, the post-Avengers attack on the box office with character driven sequels bent on becoming legitimate franchises of their own. And Thor's standalone sequel looks almost as good as Chris Hemsworth, setting up an intriguing new relationship between Thor and Tom Hiddleston's main Avengers antagonist, Loki.
And yet, in the face of last week's pretty damn extraordinary (and redemptive) new trailer for Man of Steel, it's hard not to wonder what the future for Marvel holds. The non-Iron Man Avenger movies — Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger — weren't universally well received, even if they did pull in more than $175 million each in domestic box office. In "Phase 2" Marvel pairs the third Iron Man with sequels for those two movies, and some untested properties, like Guardians of the Galaxy, which is building a weird cast for its weird collection of heroes, which, yes, includes a raccoon.
