In Thor: The Dark World, Thor confronts an enemy powerful enough to destroy all of the nine realms. To battle this evil he will reunite with Jane Foster and risk the ultimate sacrifice to save us all.

With the Bifrost destroyed in 2011’s Thor, and Loki’s invasion of the Earth in 2012’s the Avengers, the nine realms are quite a mess. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and his Asgardian allies have spent the last two restoring order across the realms.

Related: Iron Man 3 Review

Meanwhile astrophysicist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) unknowingly releases a dangerous element called the Ather. Her discovery awakens Malekith (Christopher Eccleston), an ancient evil that dates back to Thor’s Grandfather’s time. When the all-seeing Heimdall (Idris Elba) alerts Thor to Jane’s predicament, Thor returns to Earth and brings her to Asgard where he feels he can best protect her. This set the rest of the movie into motion as Malekith and his army of Dark Elves relentlessly pursues the Ather; hell-bent on casting the nine realms into eternal darkness.