When Does the Film "Thor: The Dark World" (2013) Take Place?
"Thor: The Dark World" is a fantasy superhero film written by Don Payne with Robert Rodat, Christopher L. Yost, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely [loosely adapting "The Mighty Thor" #344-#348 (1984) by Walter Simonson] that released October 30th, 2013. So when is "The Dark World" set?
It takes place on the fictional Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline in the year:
We know this because at the end a calendar clearly reading "2013" is on the wall of Jane Foster's apartment behind her.
2013 AD
We know this because at the end a calendar clearly reading "2013" is on the wall of Jane Foster's apartment behind her.
Furthermore, at the start of a series of scenes in "The Avengers: Endgame" (2019) that show us moments of this story from a new perspective, there is a large time and place setting title card over the footage that reads "ASGARD 2013".
More specifically, when Erik Selvig is released from a mental institution and collected by Darcy Lewis, partway through the story, his documents appear to have a date ending in "13". Most likely, "14/11/13" representing November 14th, 2013 AD. So it seems to be November of 2013 AD.
Additionally, there's a prologue depicting the defeat of an army of the Dark Elves. This moment is first referred to as "millennia ago" and later as the start of "a peace that lasted thousands of years". This prologue is therefore unplaceable.
There is also a second prologue that depicts a moment of fallout from the end of "The Avengers" (2012), which takes place in May of 2012 AD. Though it is not specified, logically, it is probably very, very soon after the end of that movie. So, presumably, this second prologue takes place in May or June of 2012 AD.
This Geekritique article and video examines its exact setting.
It is a chronologically midway film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (a third chronological film featuring Thor; the second chronological film to feature him solo).
