Changes: What you would do DIFFERENTLY for Thor Dark World

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

- The Sif/Jane relationship could have had one scene.
- Loki's death scene could have been more dramatic instead of rushed. That would have made me think "Wow, Loki is actually about to be killed off" instead of "Seriously? I know he isn't going to go out like that."
- Loki seemed to be the only person to be affected by Frigga's death. A thirty second scene with Thor and Odin would have been sufficient.
- Thor didn't seem to care too much after Loki died. Again, a scene with Jane comforting Thor would have sufficed.
- Selvig's spears were a little jarring. I would have made it less hokey.
- Malekith should not have had the rumored scenes cut. His villain needed to be fleshed out.
- Thor and Jane's relationship could have been fleshed out more. They were in such puppy love that it was unbelievable. They hadn't seen each other in two years and only had known each other for three days.
- A scene could have been used to explain how the Bifröst was restored. One of the best scenes of the first film was that Thor destroyed it in order to save his enemies. It was already a little sketchy how Thor returns to Earth in The Avengers. Without any explanation, the significance of the ending of Thor is cheapened. All that was needed was a 1 to 2 minute scene.

One may have noticed a common theme in all of my complaints. The film was under 2 hours. Honestly, an extra 10 or 15 minutes would have done wonders. I don't understand.

I totally agree with all of your points, all of this, with an extra 15 mins run-time could have been done and the movie would have been much better for it, possibly one of the best CBM's yet.

The two bolded ones are big issues for me, Odin and Thor didnt seem effected that much by Frigga, Wife to one and Mother to another, dying, it just didnt seem anything big, not only that but she died protecting Jane as well, the woman her son loves.

Just a brief scene afterwards with Odin and Thor reminiscing a little about her and Thor nearly crying, but Odin says something like "we are warriors, and in war loved ones die, grieve by getting revenge on Malekith, not through tears." I'm not a screen writer but something like this, which wouldnt have been longer than 5 mins could have made a world of difference.

Same with the Loki death scene, have Thor grieving in the cave, he just lost his Mother and Brother in the space of a few days, just have Jane comforting him, then she spots the vimto can, keys etc and then the portal. She tells Thor he can get to Malekith on Earth and they go through. Dont have a comedic scene 30 seconds after his brother died with Thor getting jealous! Again this would have taken no longer than 2 mins and would have made the movie much better.

 

[Smashlilman]

I would I have done Thor differently.

1) More Game of Thrones/Frigga Doesn't Die

Thor would have gotten in the act of this triple crossing business. Frigga's near mortal injury and rush to the Asgardian clinics, would have been told to Loki as a death, motivating him to enact his plan, which would have proceeded as known. The trickery would not have been revealed until the final scene of the film. This would have made his apathy make sense, by the way. A discussion earlier between Frigga and Odin would have been nice as well... another foray into young (teenage) Thor and Loki as they told this story would have been

2) Malekeith Developed

As has often been said, Malekeith would be delved into on a philosophical level. We wouldn't find his origins, per se, but he would espouse the virtues of darkness. The safety of not knowing. The ability to debase Gods into the mortal beings he knows them to be. Give him a few TDK Joker-like speeches, to make his tone all the more heavy and dark and serious, to offset the comedy in the film. Malekeith's motivation is his love of darkness, take that to the next logical place. To give him a slight emoting place, show him with the slightest hint of remorse after dooming Kurse to fight. This would require scarcely more screentime than he already had. His most famous speech would come when confronting Loki and Thor on the Dark World.

3) Thor's arc solidified

The other thing lacking in T:TDW was Thor having an arc. In the first film, he grew leaps and bounds, here he goes from an Asgardian warrior to a superhero in a matter of moments over a bit of revenge. A better arc to keep the title character as the most engaging would be to put him in a position where he chooses between Jane and his Father rather early, but then he has to choose between letting Asgard fall into chaos in his absence or Midgard falling into chaos in his absence. Raising the stakes on his final decision and leaving him in question, while giving him clear examples of the kind of brutality he's talking about to be King, exemplified by Loki and experienced first hand by himself would all play a big part in his next move. We also would have seen him command the armies earlier in the film

4) Removal of a *bit* of the comedy

There were only a few comedy bits that were unnecessary. One was Darcy's introduction. She should have been less cruel. She's not that loveable. The last was Thor's casual subway ride during the end of the world. That should have been an emergency Mjolnir ride. If they wanted something there, having Thor teleported awkwardly and then struck by his own hammer would have been unique and surprising and darkly funny, but cheap gags simply won't go over in that much tension.

5) They are Gods Though

I would take Odin's language about them not being gods and make it point out how gods are subjective. They had their hand in creating the world, their lifespans are well beyond what humans can imagine living for.

6) No, seriously, you have Alan Taylor, MORE Game of Thrones. So, the character you love most, Loki, dies... pretty much

I know we all love Loki. He's great... but this was his time to (almost) go. The last scene would have played out similarly until Thor revealed his deception to Loki at which point Loki would reveal himself and his plan and his stranglehold over Thor's life, and Thor would reveal Odin and Frigga, and the ensuant conflict/controversey about the Asgardian Throne between the four, which would involve more than a few choice words, old wounds, accuasations and double crosses, would result in Loki almost slaying Thor and Odin slaying Loki to Frigga's horror. This is what Thor would rebel against, this is what Thor would reject. Being that kind of king, that must deceive as his father does, as Loki did, in order to win. Seeing this kind of thing coming and going with it, Thor would hold his father responsible for that. Frigga would do her best with her magics to collect Loki's essence (THAT would be the last post credits) teaser, not a simple kiss that was a given knowing how the film ended that should have come before the credits.

Then in the post credits somehow Sif ends up safeguarding his essence for Frigga. The warriors three are the ones who turn over the Aether to The Collector.

7) The Aether and the Collector

I would have given them a bit more dialogue to spell out that it was the Aether that was the Infinity Stone that they were giving him. I also would have someone design the object to be a little bit more epic. It would look truly pithy next to the Tesseract.

Bonus) Hogun doesn't get sidelined randomly. What the heck was that!?

Conclusion

The movie was really solid, it just needed a bit more heart and brains (and a little less fanservice) to go from good to great.

That part just stood out to me cosidering that the actualy norse god from real Mythology aren't immortal and only have extend lives because they eat the golden apples that maintain there eternal youth. They can still be killed.

 

[Loki882]

First, I'd have either removed Darcy (the comic relief sidekick) and HER comic relief sidekick, or at least drastically reduced their screentime. Even if they were amusing, which is debatable, they were ultimately pointless to the overall story and took away valuable time that could have been used to develop Lady Sif, or the Warrior 3, or Frigga, or even Malekith, you were all MUCH more important.

The Thor/Jane "romance" was poorly done. I liked their dynamic in the first film more than most people seemed to because I saw it as a first step that was building to something. It wasn't love per se, it was more of a mutual attraction that would be further deepened and developed in future films. Unfortunately, that didn't really happen here, it was still just a shallow as it was in the first film, and there was much less justification for it here.

They built up this whole "Sif loves Thor and will have to make a huge sacrifice" in pre-release interviews, and it's not really in the movie. Sif's attraction is like one scene and never mentioned again and there is no "big sacrifice." I don't want a huge love triangle, but give us something more than what we got, which was next to nothing.

More of Sif and the W3 in general. Hogun being written out and the half-assed reason for it was bullcrap. Why couldn't Sif have gone with Thor, Loki, and Jane? There was literally NO reason for her not to go with them. If not Sif, then have the Warriors 3 go instead. It would have given them a chance for some actual development.

Given Malekith ANY kind of interesting character traits. He had no personality, not enough screentime, and no motivation besides "I'm EEVVVIIILLL." Give him a decent backstory and motivation. If there really was a backstory involving Bor killing his family, then cutting it out was a colossal mistake. Or at least give him an interesting ideology like the Joker had in The Dark Knight. He is THE WORST MCU villain so far, and I felt bad for Eccleston because this role was a complete waste of his talents.

The final battle would NOT take place on Earth, that was weak.

Explain what the Hell happened with Loki and Odin at the end better.

A more even tone. There was too much comedy, that wasn't really all that funny, which clashed badly with the darker moments.

Make the movie longer. This film should have been like a half-hour longer. There simply wasn't enough time to introduce and develop everything that they wanted to in this movie. This movie was too short, and had serious pacing issues.

I agree with others about Thor and Odin's lack of reaction to Frigga's death. I really liked Frigga in this film and was sad when she died. Her funeral scene was really cool visually. However, the lack of reaction by her Husband and Son really bugged me. At least Loki had a visible reaction, I was hoping for that and got it.

Also, and maybe this is just me, but I would have thrown in a hint of Thanos. It would be a small thing. Maybe there's a scene at the end where it's shown that Thanos has been observing the battle with Malekith and both learning Thor's strengths/weaknesses, and is preparing to take advantage of what happened to suit his own ends. It wouldn't only be like 30-40 seconds, a minute at most. Or maybe Odin mentions at one point that he senses a extremely powerful evil force emanating from the depths of space, a force unlike any that he's ever felt before. Something like that. Loki is the only villain who's really been developed over multiple films, which is one of the reasons why he's the best MCU villain BY FAR!! You could do the same kind of gradual buildup for Thanos, only much much more terrifying and powerful.

 

[BigThor]

More Bor screentime, fighting, and dialogue

An overdue All-Father worthy power display from Odin

Is it too much to ask few atleast one or two strength feats?

Thor wouldn't rely on Mjolnir so heavily

A couple actual wind based storm attacks

I'd keep Hogun around for the entire film.

More dialogue from Kurse

Let Thor and Malekith have their entire one on one THEN cut to the mortals

 

[RoryTate]

My main complaint with Thor: The Dark World as a movie was the edits/cuts/pacing of the first act. Given that, here's how I would fix it:

First, postpone the LOTR style opening, and have the movie begin instead with Loki being brought before Odin. As Odin talks about the damage Loki's schemes have caused, the visuals show Heimdall repairing the Bifrost with the Tesseract. End the Loki-Odin scene by establishing Loki's jealousy of Thor:

Loki: And what of Thor? Is he to be given a hero's welcome yet again?
Odin: Your brother has been sent to fight...
​

Which flows into Thor battling with Sif and the Warriors Three against the Kronan. However, this is not the beginning and the end of the "policing the realm" arc like in the movie. Instead we cut-watch the group travel/battle through the different parts of Asgard, Vanaheim, and other realms, with Thor learning that not everyone appreciates the rule of Odin (an idea I admit I have shamelessly stolen from another forum member's proposed changes that I really liked). Thor now understands that protecting people requires the ability to act without the burden of a crown, giving some meaning to his return to Earth at the end of the movie.

More importantly, however, the new scenes establish the growing battle-weariness of the Asgardian army, and their losses from such a lengthy campaign. They worry about the other enemies of Asgard causing trouble:

Sif (or whoever): The Jotuns are still recovering from the destruction of much of their home, and the fire demons of Surtur have been strangely quiet recently, so Asgard is safe at this time.
Volstagg: Then let us continue with our task, and get to the food and merriment all the sooner, for I have developed a large appetite!
​

The map-hopping of this arc can then hop along into Svartalfheim, and we see Malekith's awakening. Mal revives the remaining members of his race, and then awakens their hatred by recounting the previous Bor-Malekith war (with some of the appropriate opening LOTR visuals, but with an Eccleston voiceover). [Note: I didn't really mind the actual LOTR style opening per se, but by the end of the movie it felt like it was lost amongst all the other opening plots being established and dealt with, so I would try sectioning it out when it would have more impact emotionally.] With this intro for the dark elves, a suddenly vulnerable Asgard is now seen to be facing a serious threat. The Convergence is established by Mal as happening relatively distant in the future (i.e. several months), so he commands the dark elves to prepare for war, and to begin searching in secret for the aether. [And the audience gets to see him actually be a ruler of his people.]

Cut to Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three. They are finally ending their long campaign, and Hogun can now return home without it feeling too jarring. This "victory" feast can play almost exactly like the movie, with Thor feeling apart from the celebration. The only change: because of the extra scene time Sif has had battling at Thor's side, she can now reference it and how she wants that camaraderie to become something more. Thor can clearly establish his desire to return to Jane and Earth, and Sif's true feelings will finally be expressed to Thor. [Note: I tend to ship the Sif/Thor pairing myself, but I already have the comics to enjoy/explore that, and Thor/Jane does work in the movies]

Cut back to the dark elves, and they are ready to begin a war (or at least a strong surprise attack), in contrast to the Asgardian battle weariness just witnessed. Mal still sends Kurse off to pose as a captured prisoner, but references that the stone will keep him hidden from "accursed Asgardian eyes", to explain why Heimdall tries but cannot see/recognize him. The searchers return without having found the aether, but they tell Mal that Asgard is vulnerable, with few powerful allies at this time.

Malekith: Without the dwarves' machinations or the light elves treachery, who will you have to protect you from our wrath?
​

[Note: this sets up an important weakness to the dark elves: while their ancient age gives them strength (the Older Is Better trope), it also causes them to overlook the changing power balance in the nine realms]

Cut immediately to Earth and Jane et al exploring the gravitational anomalies [Note: blatantly establish "those pesky humans" as a trope here...even go so far as to have Malekith's "who will you have to protect you from our wrath" spoken directly over top of this introductory Earth scene]. Play the rest of this scene out like the film (but skip the Jane dinner date to start) with the following minor changes: establish Darcy's intern as a suspected Shield infiltrator among the group, as Jane and Darcy discuss keeping the discovery a secret.

Jane: But what about Ian? He'll tell Shield what we're doing here.
Darcy: Come on! Do you really still think he's here to spy on us for them? Jane, the guy just threw our car keys into a space void thingie!
Jane: Well, he's a good actor, I'll give him that.
​

Also establish that playing with the portals is likely a bad idea, but that it is humanity's innate curiousity that redeems us and why they continue poking at the danger (the addition of the children at this time in the movie was actually a very inspired choice by the writers). Jane becomes too focused on finding the source of the anomalies (instead of just being in the wrong place at the wrong time as in the movie) and becomes the host for the aether as a result.

From this point forward, the movie will play out without too many major changes, as we now move into the much better second act.

- Odin arguing against Thor bringing Jane to Asgard and deriding humanity in general now has new meaning, as the audience knows that Asgard needs the humans as allies, so we side with Thor more strongly in this argument, and anticipate the time when Odin/Asgard will learn what Thor knows: that humanity is worthy of respect and is moving towards being on more equal footing with the "gods"

- show the remaining bits of the LOTR-style opening during Odin's talk with Thor and Jane in the library, spliced together with the invisible ships of the dark elves approaching

- during the attack, Malekith is told that the aether has been detected on Asgard, and he immediately switches his goal to hunting down Jane, and a more ambitious plan

- another change I would make is to give the Asgardian warriors some defense against the laser rifles of the dark elves. Have the guards' shields able to absorb some of the energy of the blasts (at least if positioned correctly), because this is really a "bringing a knife to a gun fight" moment, and it is completely unbelievable that a several thousand year-old enemy is more technologically advanced than Asgard. I would put them on a more equal footing at least, and let the established idea that Asgard is "stretched thin" do the rest in letting the guards be defeated

- after the Frigga funeral and Loki death scene, a Thor/Jane scene is an absolute requirement (I honestly don't know how this was missed in the movie). The Frigga scene would be a "I wish I had known her more, please tell me more about your mother" type of condolence from Jane that would solidify their relationship and could show how much she cares for Thor. The Loki after-death scene would use Jane in the perfect role to represent the audience's conflicted emotions: "He was the cause of so much destruction, but he just saved my life by giving up his own. I don't know how I should feel about him?"

- the cell phone call in the cave from Jane's stood-up date can still work without seeing the actual dinner (or there are other plot devices that can be used to get them out of the cave and back to Earth)

- much later on, change the Ian/Darcy dialogue about "not getting paid to work with Jane" (which is really dumb -- like as in a completely wtf? moment) to a quick admittance by Ian that he was an incompetent Shield employee and was just being transferred around to whichever department would take him, and that dumping him on Jane was just a way for Shield to get rid of him [this will set him up as a sympathetic Woobie character, and his car bit later can work as a crowning moment of awesome, despite its admitted silliness]

- the final battle will change slightly to have Sif and the Warriors Two/Three helping to fight the Dark Elf henchman on Earth. This means less backtracking on how deadly the dark elves are as a threat. More importantly though, Sif et al's presence becomes the big payoff of Asgard finally recognizing the humans as useful allies...in the movie, unfortunately it is only Thor who witnesses the heroic actions of the humans, which gives the audience no payoff whatsoever for humanity's role in saving the nine realms

- also because of this change, Sif can now witness firsthand Jane's bravery in battle, and see her as potentially worthy of Thor's love...have the two talk briefly during the fight, and have Sif acknowledge Jane's existence in some manner

- my last addition, but only if you want to do a "we've come full circle" kinda thing...

Volstagg: Well met, my friends! Asgard owes you a mighty feast in your honour! You fight as though the spirit of Balder the Brave himself was in your blood!
Selvig: Of course! Of course! Glad we could help! [he pats Volstagg awkwardly on the shoulder then turns to confide with his friends] Personally, I'm happier not having gods inside my head anymore!
​

And that is the end of my changes. I'll stop myself from discussing the reveal of Loki as ruler at the end, despite how it was a "oh for ****'s sake, not that again" moment for me. That is another post entirely.

TLDR version; my changes = more meaningful transitions during the first act, establish Asgard as stretched thin by war, establish Jane et al as pesky humans who will tip the balance against the unsuspecting dark elves and then pay that off with more Asgardians involved in the final battle to witness the deed, fix the after death scenes by following up with Jane/Thor and not cutting too quickly to humourous moments, fix the character of Ian, have a scene with Sif acknowledging Jane, THE END

 

[Vartha]

More of Sif and the Warriors Three, and have the Dark elves speaking English. Trying to read and watch them act was too distracting

 

[nouan]

I read most of theses changes and they are all really good! Oh what could have been... We finally get Thor onscreen and they give these mediocre movies. What a waste. They should really take some time with these projects and not do it with this assembly line principle.

 

[KDM1986]

Less Darcy More Warriors 3 and Sif. I thought the movie was great anyway though.

 

[THANOSRULES]

i would have teased Surtur and Ulik ..Surtur being the big bad of thor 3

More SIF
Final Battle..more dark elves, more Asgardians..less portals.
THe collector scene should have been in a more grand room and a bit more profound..it seemed done on the cheap.

 

[DorneyDave]

Less humor in some spots.

Keep Loki dead.

A better and more fleshed out villain.

Final battle was underwhelming and cheesy. Re-do that in a different manner.

 

[RoryTate]

THe collector scene should have been in a more grand room and a bit more profound..it seemed done on the cheap.

I agree with your other points, but this wasn't the fault of the team that worked on Thor 2. Alan Taylor actually disowned this after-credits scene and wanted nothing to do with it...likely because of the problems you state.

You're right that it did need fixing in many ways (it looked like it was done with a very low budget and Sif and Volstagg just looked...odd -- that could have been makeup or the different equipment that was used to film it...or both), but I think it's fair to consider this credits scene as separate from the movie.

 

[THANOSRULES]

I agree with your other points, but this wasn't the fault of the team that worked on Thor 2. Alan Taylor actually disowned this after-credits scene and wanted nothing to do with it...likely because of the problems you state.

You're right that it did need fixing in many ways (it looked like it was done with a very low budget and Sif and Volstagg just looked...odd -- that could have been makeup or the different equipment that was used to film it...or both), but I think it's fair to consider this credits scene as separate from the movie.

did not know that..totally makes sense. Sucks when Thanos post Avengers was so well done..c'mon marvel.

As I said it look like a deleted scene from Dr. Who or Farscape..

Honestly i would have set the scene in a grand room, with a huge and epic wall of beings and artifacts in stasis chambers. The collector would have been seated in a heavy throne like chair..with a couple tanks near him that were perhaps highly prized possesions (and some cool easter eggs to comic fans)

I would have shown an advisor commenting on a vid screen of asgardians sealing the left over aether in its tomb. He would have made some comment to the collector about the asgardians having found the 2nd infinity stone..to which Collector makes some cool remark about 2 down 5 to go etc.. Collector needed to be more epic. His make up looked crappy and cheap as well.

 

[RoryTate]

did not know that..totally makes sense. Sucks when Thanos post Avengers was so well done..c'mon marvel.

As I said it look like a deleted scene from Dr. Who or Farscape..

Ha! That was my immediate reaction too: what the hell?...this really feels a lot like Farscape all of a sudden.

Except Farscape actually had great production values -- especially considering it was a tv show -- plus it had staff and designers who cared a great deal about how the show looked.

In case anyone is interested, here's the actual interview with Alan Taylor where he none-too-subtly makes his feelings known about the mid-credits scene:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/10...t-thor-the-dark-worlds-big-mid-credits-tease/

 

[THANOSRULES]

In terms of Loki, Ive no problem with him living, but it should have been more teased than overt. Have the guard say he found nothing there to odin..then have the guard do that smile on his way leaving the throne room...and thats it! The scene we got was a bit too overt.

 

[Savage]

As awesome as Heimdall's take-down of the ship was, I honestly thought he was going for the horn to alert the other Asgardians. I even whispered to my girlfriend "He's going for the horn to alert the others! t:" and then he did this whole take-down and I kinda went "...huh."

It's one of those things that keeps being pointed out by people. All the advanced technology and these guys don't have some kind of cell phone or alarm system. I know for a fact that Heimdall does have such a thing (if nothing else, he's known for that horn) and yet nothing. I figured he'd at least blow on the horn when he saw there was more than one ship after he took down the first.

I thought it was just a nitpick of mine until I heard other people bringing it up as well. Very strange choice, I feel.

 

[Vartha]

i would have teased Surtur and Ulik ..Surtur being the big bad of thor 3

More SIF
Final Battle..more dark elves, more Asgardians..less portals.
THe collector scene should have been in a more grand room and a bit more profound..it seemed done on the cheap.

I was listening to every background noise hoping to catch the " DOOM DOOM DOOM" but didn't catch anything

 

[mnedel]

Sorry for the wall of text. I wanted it to be a short list but things got out of hand Hope anyone will have the strength to read this Some scenes may be out of order and I don't know if I remember everything from the movie. Also English is not my first language so sorry if there are any mistakes.




· Longer prolog. After Malekith is gone in the last ship we get something like this: Odin, “And then Bor did the unspeakable. In order to protect the universe and billions of lives he destroyed the dark elf race, killed them all. “And while Odin is speaking we are shown a scene of elf women, children fleeing while their city is being destroyed by asgardians. That would give a strong motivation for Malekith, bring in some needed moral ambiguity and would play in well with what Loki said about Odin and Asgard
· Next, things happen in Asgard as in the movie...
· On Earth Jane does not have a date, that guy and Darcy’s intern don’t exist. Jane is working in a lab or something; Darcy comes in, maybe jokes a little and then informs Jane that the Shield global tracking system detected something. Jane comments how she doesn’t like how Shield used her research for their tracking system but Darcy states that this way they can know if Thor or an invading alien army show up anywhere on the planet. Jane thinks this is not Thor, it is something else and they need to go to there to investigate. This way we can avoid the very improbable coincidence that the anomaly is right in the same city Jane happens to be. This way it can be anywhere, Mongolia, Australia, whatever. Next scene Jane and co arrive at the site, maybe there are some locals gathered, they goof off with the anomaly, Jane investigates, falls in as in the movie, gets infected than gets out at some random place, like Poland, Argentina … Thor arrives and takes her.
· Things go down in Asgard the same as in the movie
· Dark elves wake up. Malekith explains to Algrim that the merging of the worlds is near and that the Aether senses it (Aether has a will, think one ring from Lord of the rings). The device that bound it has weakened over the eons. It has reached across the forming connections between worlds, found a host and now is fully awake and they need to claim it as soon as possible. This would explain how Jane got to the Aether, since the anomaly she tried to investigate is the very first connection and the one the Aether tried to use first. So we don’t have yet another super improbable coincidence of Jane stumbling on Aether by chance. Malekith makes a little speech how they are the elder race but Asgardians took everything from them, their place in the universe, their planet, their wives and children and ask his people to follow him. They respond that their lives are his to use. This at least gives elves one sentence in the movie, (we see them without the masks) and gives a little bit more sympathy for them.
· On Earth Darcy contacts Shield as Jane is nowhere to be found. They tell here that they have found another big anomaly and an Asgardian circle on the ground and that they think she may be in Asgard. Problem is there are anomalies popping all over the world (some scenes like the one with birds flying out of the ground). Darcy says that now that Jane is gone the only one who can know more about this is Selving. She worries that this is something very serious now that even Asgard is involved and maybe Avengers should be assembled, but Shield responds that it is not possible to assemble the Avengers so quickly and that they are not needed. They will send a team with Hawkeye to help her. He is the only one present and not on a mission.
· Elves invade Asgard. Main elf ship is bigger than in the movie and there are more elves, like a thousand or more but the reviving takes time and so only a few dozen are up and about but Malekith can’t wait. Even a thousand elves will not mean anything against the full might of Asgard (he doesn’t know that Asgard is weakened, see below) and the Aether is in Asgard, he can’t be sure what is being done to it.
· In the movie, elf solders easily defeat asgardian soldiers with their guns. I think this is stupid. If this is so, that how can Asgards army fight any of the technologically advanced enemies? Why wouldn’t elves just destroy Asgard’s army from range? Asgard’s soldiers must be very resilient to hand held lasers and similar things so that enemies have to go to melee with them where asgardians are much stronger than anyone else. Even laser cannons and such should have only limited effect on asgardians. So in my version, the attack goes like this: Elves spaceships are combat vessels so they are equipped with much heavier version of the hand held lesor guns. Malekith’s main ship blasts the terrace with its super heavy weapons killing many guards, than a small ship crashes in on top of the remaing guards. The few guards that survive all this engage the elves, do well given the odds and how outnumbered they are (confirming that asgardians are much stronger than elves) but elves kill all of them with black hole bombs. The rest is the same as in the movie until Frigga
· When Frigga dies Malekith has a very short flashback (seconds only). He sees a dark elf woman dying in a similar pose. He even looks sorry for Friga for a moment but then recovers and comments how Odin will now know his pain or something like it. Thor and Odin grieve. Jane feels guilty for Frigga, Malekith was after her and Friga died protecting her. She attempts to comfort Thor, they bond.
· Thor tries to convince Odin that he must take Jane away from Asgard. He says that a ship of that size can carry who knows how many elves, that Malekith will return, that Odin is weak from the dark energy he used in the Avengers, that he will soon have to go to premature Odin sleep, that Asgard army is weakened from the 2 years of war while they pacified the nine realms, that much of the army is not even on Asgard, they are protecting the other realms, there is no time to bring them here to defend against the elves since Bifrost is not yet fully operational (this would explain how one elf ship is a danger to Asgad when before they could defeat their whole army)
· Odin doesn’t listen and the escape happens as in the movie up until the point they reach Loki’s hidden portal. In the movie it looks like the portal connects Asgard and elf planet, that it doesn’t have anything to do with magic, that anyone could use it, Loki was just lucky enough to find it. It also doesn’t explain how Loki brought frost giants to Asgard in the first film. In my version, when they go through the tunnel they don’t pass through the portal immediately, instead they enter a large, natural, majestic looking cavern. Loki puts the ship in hover mode and starts doing some magic. While he is doing it he briefly explains that even when there is no merging of the worlds there are places where they are connected. This is one such place, gateway that branches to all the worlds he is using magic to stabilise the branch that leads to elf planet. He is finished and they pass true the portal. Loki knowing more about the merging of worlds and how they are connected also explains how this idea was put in Selving and would play in well with the idea of magic=science.
· Back on Earth we meet Selving, the same way as in the movie. He is taken by Darcy and Hawkeye. They go to investigate the anomalies. There is great concentration of anomalies around London so this is where they go.
· Thor and co get to the dark elf world. Thor tells Loki to use his magic and change the portal to now lead to Earth, in case something happens at least Jane will be able to flee home (this way we also avoid that a random anomaly on Earth somehow leads to the exact same location as the one from Asgard, that has to be like 1 in a trillion chance; and we get rid of that strange scene in which Thor is goofing off with Jane about a lover when his brother died a minute ago). The plan proceeds as in the movie. There are many more elves so there has to be a reason why they don’t gang up on Thor and Loki. Maybe Malekith starts to give orders that more solders assist Kurse but Kurse tells him that he needs them more than him in case asgardinas show up on Earth and that he will take care of Thor and Loki alone. Loki shows of some more offensive magic, Thor battle with Kurse is a bit longer but ends the same way. When Loki dies Thor briefly mourns him, even Jane makes a small gesture, and he did save her a minute ago. As Thor and Jane walk towards the portal, shards of Aether lying on the ground (from the explosion) move towards Loki. This is very inconspicuous and only someone watching very closely could see it. Basically I think that Loki truly died. If everything was an illusion and Loki’s plan than that would undermine all character development between him and Thor and ruin the whole movie. I think Loki did die and then somehow gets revived. He said earlier in the movie that he could do great things if he had the power of Aether. So my idea is that the residual Aither is attracted to Loki’s magic, enters his body and revives him and gives him more power. Of course, we are talking about Loki so although he was nice this movie he is still chaotic and when he sees an opportunity for himself he seizes it. I don’t think he killed Odin. Odin is incapacitated somehow, maybe premature Odin sleep. I would also find it interesting if Loki turns up to be a competent king. Like in the game of thrones where bad guys could be great rulers, great for the country (think Tywin Lannister). Than in the next movie Thor and co wouldn’t be sure whether to kill Loki for betrayal and s**t that will undoubtedly happen or thank him for his previous good work with Asgard.
· Thor and Jane get to Earth, maybe in France or Ireland, not too far from London. The portal always leads to this place so there can be some ancient signs of worship around. Like a crumbling Stonehenge or something. Jane still has the device she used to investigate the original anomaly and with it she discovers that the largest disturbance is in London Thor is sure that Malekith will be there so he takes Jane, (she won’t stay behind) and flies with her towards London.
· Selving, Darcy, Hawkeye and some shield agents are already in London. Selving tinkers with gravity detectors they have and unexpectedly something vanishes. Next Malekith’s ship shows up. English air force emergency jets scramble but are easily shot down by elves. The ship lands, Thor arrives and engages Malekith while Hawkeye and shield battle the elves. Jane runs to Hawkeye and co and and tells them that Malekith is trying to destroy the universe. Hawkeye conntacts Shield HQ. He then informs Jane that Shield is sending everything they have including all Avengers they could find but he thinks it is too late (and he is right, they don't make it in time). Hawkeye is successful against the elves but the rest of the shield are not. There are many more elves than in the movie (by this time all of them are awake). Asgardians show up led by the warriors three. Asgard sent all the solders it could; there is nothing more important than stopping Malekith. They are still overwhelmed but then Salving has an idea. Salving rigs the gravity detectors, Darcy passes them to Hawkeye, he uses them as javelins and Jane activates them and elves go puff. Earth and Asgardian forces gain the upper hand. All this time Thor and Malekith fight. More super strength feats from Thor. At the end when Malekith starts unleashing the Aether an energy shock wave happens. Thor protects Jane and co, many asgardians die but some withstand it, but London is levelled. Buildings topple, skyscrapers fall, total devastation worthy of a universe destroying weapon. Thor than defeats Malekith. He is the only one who can get to him in the maelstrom, but he can’t throw the javelins at Malekith, the wind is too strong; instead we have more melee and Thor menages to spear him. Malekith is defeated and Thor is half dead. Jane runs to Thor. The surviving asgardians and warriors three take injured Thor to Asgard to recuperate. Before they leave Sif tells Jane that she has seen her courage in combat and her love for Thor. She has new respect for Jane and tells her she is is truly worthy of Thor.
· The rest is as in the movie, only the scene with the Collector is more serious and grand


The part about Sif was borrowed from RoryTate post, really like this change.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

Make it 10-15 minutes longer

3-4 minutes for Malekith for pure development
1-2 minutes to the fight with Kurse (perhaps with Malekith egging them on for more Mal development)
1-2 minutes for Frigga (be it with Jane/Thor/Odin or some combination of them)
2-3 minutes for Sif (in battle or to emphasize her feelings for Thor and spite toward Jane)
3-4 minutes of extra scenes for warriors 3. Hogun with his family. Fandral and Volstagg battling Dark Elves.

And that's all. Then it would be about as good as it's gonna get.

 

[Smashlilman]

The ending of the movie would be Thor going back to earth to be with Jane. The mid credits would be Loki reviling himself as Odin. The after credits would stay the same.